Cast in bronze with a heavy copper tone,
this sculpture depicts the Tantric
divinity, Yama accompanied by his
sister, Yami, on a recumbent bull
cowering over a prostrate female. Yama
is one of the dharmapala, defenders of
the law who are supposed to wage war
without mercy against demons and invoke
fear in malignant spirits. The wicked
are brought before him to be questioned
and judged. Yama is generally
accompanied by his sister Yami, whose
duty is to look after the female
culprits. In this sculpture, Yama
assumes the varied form of gsang-sgrub
and phyi-sgrub, characterized by a
bull's head, glass or onyz beaded third
eye, and crown of skulls behind which
his hair rises in flame shape. He steps
to the right on a bull bedecked with
garlands of jewels and skulls, and holds
a grigrug (chopper) in his right primary
hand and a kapala (skull cap) in his
left, which is repeated by Yami as well.
His secondary arms wave a skull-face
mace and lasso. He is naked aside from
jewelled belts, bracelets and a tiger-
faced skin covering his right knee. His
attitude and expression show great
excitement and fury. Yama bears a strong
resemblance to Yamantaka, a god of
wealth who conquered Yama, also referred
pejoratively as the god of death. The
two divinities are distinguished by
certain identifying marks: Yama wears an
ornament representing the Buddhist wheel
on his chest and is sometimes
accompanied by his sister Yami who is
not to be confused with sakti, the
personification of female energy of a
male divinity, shown embracing with legs
wrapped around the waist and one arm
around the neck (the yab-yum position).
Yamantaka, however, often appears in
this latter form with his sakti.
- (H.048)
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