Powerful, red in colour with one face, hair flowing upward, three eyes and four hands, slightly fierce in expression, she holds a bow and arrow in the first pair of hands and a hook and lasso in the lower pair. All the hand objects are constructed of red utpala flowers and used as implements for the subjugation of others. Adorned with jewel ornaments, a tiara, earrings, necklaces, bracelets and silk scarves, she wears a lower skirt of tiger skin. Standing atop a corpse, sun disc and lotus blossom she dances amidst the circular flames of the fire of pristine awareness.

At the top center is buddha Amitabha. At the top left is mahasiddha Virupa performing the mudra (gesture) of Dharma Teaching with the two hands at the heart, seated in a relaxed posture. At the top right is a Sakya Lama with the hands folded in meditation and wearing a pandita hat with the lappets folded across the crown. At the bottom left is Green Tara, with one face and two hands, seated in a relaxed posture. At the right is another Sakya Lama holding a vase in the extended right hand and the stem of a lotus in the left held to the heart with the blossom supporting a sword and book. At the bottom center is the wrathful protector 'Queen of the Weapon Army' (mag zor gyal mo), with one face and two hands holding a stick and skullcup; riding a mule.

In the Sakya Tradition there are numerous forms of Kurukulle from the four different tantra classifications and all of those can be arranged in five levels of profundity. This particular subject belongs to the fourth and fifth of the higher classifications - those associated with the Hevajra and Vajrapanjara Tantras.

Guru Lineage: the great Vajradhara, the holy Kurukulle, Raja Sahaja Lalita, Vajrasana the Greater, the Younger Amoghavajra, Bari Lotsawa Rinchen Drag, Sachen Kunga Nyingpo (1092-1158), etc.

The method of painting is 'ser thang' - gold outline on a red background, generally used for power deities.

Jeff Watt 4-98