bewildering, and causing enmity.
The skeletal forms of the Brother and
Citipati - 'The Dancing
Skeletons' :
This gold-on-black thangka of two entwined dancing skeletons, who are
commonly known as Citipati, Chitipati or Kinkara, is a copy of a nineteenth
century colour composition from the Potala Palace in Lhasa, Tibet. The
Sanskrit term citipati means the ‘Lord (pati) of the funeral pyre (citi)’,
while Kinkara simply means ‘skeleton’. According to a Buddhist legend
these two figures were once monks that were beheaded by a thief while
they were meditating, who later took revenge on the thief by manifesting in
the terrifying forms of skeleton spirits. They thus came to be regarded as
treasure guardians who protect from thieves, and practitioners of the
Chakrasamvara Tantra often invoked them in the performance of wealth
rituals.
As protectors they are particularly associated with the eight great charnel
grounds of the Chakrasamvara and Vajrayogini mandalas, which are
similarly represented in the protection wheels of many other wrathful or
semi-wrathful yidam or tutelary deities. Their Indian liineage stems from
Vajradhara, Vajrayogini, Padmavajra, Rahula, Lilavajra, Jnanasiddhi,
Matibhadra and Vairocana Rakshita, then into Tibet through Ga Lotsawa
and Sachen Kunga Nyingpo. The function of Citipati as protectors is now
common to all sarma or 'new translation' schools, especially within the
Chakrasamvara and Vajrayogini cycles of the Gelugpa School, to which this
thangka belongs.
In Vajrayana Buddhism they are known as the ‘Lords of the charnel
grounds, brother and sister consorts’ (dur khrod bdag po lcam dral ), and
in Sanskrit as Smashana-adhipati, meaning the ‘Primordial Lords of the
charnel grounds’. As the twin protectors of cemeteries they subjugate all
the vicious and malevolent demons, ghosts and spirits that can spiritually
hinder practitioners, through the power of their tantric activities of
pacifying, enriching, subjugating, slaying, exorcising, paralyzing,
Sister are usually depicted with their legs interlocked together in dancing
posture, and even thought they are identified as ‘brother and sister’ they
may also be depicted in the ‘father-mother’ (yab yum) aspect of sexual
union. Within the Gelugpa traditions the 'brother' or father is often shown
holding the attributes of a skeleton-club and a skull-cup, while the 'sister'
or mother usually holds an ear of grain and a small wealth vase in her
corresponding right and left hands.
As the masters or heroes of the charnel grounds, the brother-and-sister are
generated from the syllables HŪṂ and AṂ, that arise in the symbolic
forms of a conch and cowrie shell upon a golden sun-disc, which then
transform into the terrifying and radiant white deified forms of dancing
skeletons. The brother stands on the right of the sun-disc and lotus in
ardha-paryrika or dancing ‘bow-and-arrow’ posture, with his right leg and
foot drawn upward at a sharp angle, and his extended left leg bent at the
knee as his foot presses upon the white conch shell from which he is
generated. The sister stands on the left of the sun disc in reversed ‘bow-
and-arrow’ posture, with her bent left leg drawn partially upwards, and
extended right leg bent at the knee as her foot presses on the white cowrie
shell from which she is generated. She is smaller in stature than her
brother, and the shapes of the two seashells from which they are generated
serve as polarity symbols for the male penis (conch) and the female vagina
(cowrie).
The skeletal protectors each have two arms and their white skulls have a
haughty expression, with two piercing round red eyes, and gaping mouths
that reveals their white teeth, four sharp fangs, and twisting red tongues.
With their heads facing each other they gaze directly into each other’s eyes,
and each wears a golden tiara on the crown of their skull that is adorned
with five jewel-topped dry white skulls. Their tiaras are tied with silk
ribbons that swirl above their heads, with ends that splay out like fans
behind their jawbones. They are adorned with golden bracelets, although
only the brother wears a golden earring. And they both wear bodices and
loincloths of embroidered silks, along with a belt and a long billowing silk
scarf. The brother and sister each hold aloft a white skeleton-club in their
right hands, its long shaft fashioned from human vertebrae, and its top
crowned with a dry white skull and a jewel. With their left hands they each
hold a skull-cup full of blood, the brother holding his skull-cup in front of
his heart, and the sister holding hers at the level of her hip. They both
abide within a radiant aura of blazing awareness fire, and are described as
being surrounded by a retinue of countless worldly and super-mundane
dakinis.
The background of this thangka depicts the funereal landscape of their
abode in the realm of the dakinis, situated in the western land of
Uddiyana, and the skeletal structure of their mansion or mandala palace
appears behind the flames of their aura. The vertical beams of its roof are
fashioned from human thighbones, with a horizontal frieze of skulls and
vertebrae forming the roof beam and guttering below. A grinning skull
adorns each end of the roof’s guttering, its gable ends are adorned with a
skull impaled on a skeletal arm and hand, and on each corner of the roof’s
golden canopy is a skull pierced by a blazing iron trident. On either side of
the main palace roof are the two ornate canopies of its gateways, which are
similarly fashioned from thighbones, skulls, skeletal arms and legs, with
their pinnacles formed from a pyramid of skulls, rib cages, and blazing iron
tridents. Below each gateway’s lower frieze of skulls are the black beams of
its torana or archway, which are decorated with severed heads, crossed
thighbones, and flayed human skins. This fearful palace stands at the
centre of a great charnel ground and amidst a grove of sandalwood trees.
Crowning the centre of the palace’s main roof is the cloud-borne form of
the twelve-armed blue yidam deity Chakrasamvara, in union with his red
consort Vajravarahi. In the upper left corner is the founder of the Gelug
tradition, Tsongkhapa (1357-1419), with his two principal disciples,
Khedrub Je (right), and Gyaltsab Je (left). In the opposite corner is Machig
Labdron (circa 1055-1149), the female instigator of the unique Tibetan
chod lineage of practice, which is performed in order to cut through the
self-cherishing roots of attachment. Machig’s attributes are a damaru or
‘chod-drum’, a blood-filled skull-cup, and a khatvanga.
Below Citipati’s lotus throne is a lotus-filled lake with a central lotus
supporting a golden bowl that contains the peaceful offering of the five
senses: mirror (sight), cymbals (sound), perfumed-conch (smell), fruit
(taste), and a silk ribbon (touch). In the bottom right corner is a group of
three skull-cups, the outer skulls containing swirling nectar and blood, and
the large central skull containing the wrathful offering of the five torn-out
sense organs: eyes, ears, nose, tongue, and heart. The lower landscape
depicts scenes and attributes from the great charnel grounds, with a yogin
and yogini performing the chod ritual with a damaru and thighbone
trumpet; flesh-eating ogres; jackals and vultures devouring various
corpses, a naga-serpent, scattered bones and offerings, funeral flames, and
a white stupa. In the bottom left corner are a skull-cup containing sense
organs, an upturned skull containing a human heart, and a butter-lamp
fueled by human fat with a wick made from the twisted hair of a corpse.
In the Sakya tradition the brother and sister are usually depicted as
described above: with their legs interlinked, with either two or three eyes,
and with both figures holding the attributes of a skeleton club and a skull-
cup filled with blood. While in the Gelug tradition only the male skeleton
hold the attributes of a skeleton club and skull-cup, while the female
skeleton holds the increase or wealth attributes of an ear of grain, and a
treasure vase or long-life vase.
The brother may also wear a tiger-skin loincloth instead of a silk skirt, and
both may wear brocade ‘cloud collars’ upon their shoulder blades as upper
garments. The couple can also be depicted in the dancing yab-yum aspect
of face-to-face sexual union, with the legs of the mother (yum) wrapped
around the waist of the father (yab). Occasionally the brother may also be
shown wearing a garland of severed heads, while the sister wears a garland
of dry white skulls.
Skeleton figures also appear in the monastic Cham dance traditions of
Tibet, where the dancers wear skull-masks and skeleton costumes.
Animated or dancing skeletons are also frequently depicted amidst the
charnel ground scenes of wrathful deity thangkas, where they hold
dismembered body parts and terrify human beings. In the Newar tradition
these terrifying nocturnal spirits are known as kawa, who appear as male
skeletons with erect penises. Their female counterparts are known as
khyak, who appear as corpulent, hairy and ‘boneless’ spirits. These male
and female spirits frequently appear in Newar art, where they represent
the male and female aspects of bone (semen) and flesh (uterine blood) that
engender human conception. And in Tibetan society one’s patriarchal or
matriarchal descendants are said to belong to either the ‘bone-lineage’ of
the father, or the ‘blood-lineage’ of the mother.