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Source Description
The powerful blue body of Achala, meaning “immovable,” dominates the composition. He holds a sword to cut through ignorance and a noose for catching illusions that plague the path to enlightenment. Small personifications of furious destroyers of illusion (<em>maya</em>) emanate from him on either side, each with his own weapon. This image expresses what advanced practitioners would visualize in meditation rituals, as explained in Buddhist texts called tantras. Woven with a sophistication matched only by products of the Hangzhou looms, this devotional tapestry made its way to Khara-Khoto, capital of the Tangut Empire located in present-day Mongolia and Central Asia, where tantric Buddhism was prevalent.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
156857
label
Achala, King of the Wrathful Ones
core
obj
dtoType
object
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
156857
contentType
object
title
Achala, King of the Wrathful Ones
description
The powerful blue body of Achala, meaning “immovable,” dominates the composition. He holds a sword to cut through ignorance and a noose for catching illusions that plague the path to enlightenment. Small personifications of furious destroyers of illusion (<em>maya</em>) emanate from him on either side, each with his own weapon. This image expresses what advanced practitioners would visualize in meditation rituals, as explained in Buddhist texts called tantras. Woven with a sophistication matched only by products of the Hangzhou looms, this devotional tapestry made its way to Khara-Khoto, capital of the Tangut Empire located in present-day Mongolia and Central Asia, where tantric Buddhism was prevalent.
date
early 1200s
citation
rights
CC0
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
wikidata
Q60754231
genreSpecific
Textile
imageCount
1
source
import
dimensionsRaw
Overall: 100.6 x 74.3 cm (39 5/8 x 29 1/4 in.); Mounted: 111.1 x 83.8 x 7 cm (43 3/4 x 33 x 2 3/4 in.)
cul
China, Zhejiang Province, probably Hangzhou
accession
1992.72
Source extras
tec
Thangka, silk tapestry with pearls
tombstone
Achala, King of the Wrathful Ones, early 1200s. China, Zhejiang Province, probably Hangzhou. Thangka, silk tapestry with pearls; overall: 100.6 x 74.3 cm (39 5/8 x 29 1/4 in.); mounted: 111.1 x 83.8 x 7 cm (43 3/4 x 33 x 2 3/4 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund, 1992.72
collection
Textiles
didYouKnow
The elephant-headed figure under his left foot is a demonic divinity, a yaksha, who creates obstacles to enlightenment.
citations
citation
Turner, Evan H. "The Year in Review for 1992." <em>The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art</em> 80, no. 2 (1993): 38–79.
page_number
Reproduced: p. 43–44; Mentioned: p. 43, 77
citation
Wardwell, Anne E. "The "Kesi Thangka" of Vighnāntaka." <em>The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art</em> 80, no. 4 (1993): 136–39.
page_number
Reproduced: p. 136; Mentioned: pp. 137–39
citation
"1993 Annual Report." <em>The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art</em> 81, no. 6 (1994): 143–218.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 154
citation
Wardell, Anne E., "When Silk Was Gold", Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>Cleveland Art: The Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine</em>. Vol. 37 no. 08, October 1997
page_number
Mentioned and Reproduced: pp. 4–5
citation
Watt, James C. Y., Anne E. Wardwell, and Morris Rossabi. <em>When silk was gold: Central Asian and Chinese textiles</em>. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art in cooperation with the Cleveland Museum of Art: Distributed by H.N. Abrams, 1997.
page_number
Mentioned: cat. no. 24, pp. 90–94; Reproduced: p. 91, color detail p. 94; b&w detail p. 92; detail of reverse figure 17, p. 59
citation
Cunningham, Michael R., Stanislaw J. Czuma, Anne E. Wardwell, and J. Keith Wilson. <em>Masterworks of Asian Art</em>. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1998.
page_number
Reproduced: pp. 62–63
citation
Amy Heller, "On the Development of the Iconography of Acala and Vighnantaka in Tibet," in <em>Embodying Wisdom: Art, Text, and Interpretation in the History of Esoteric Buddhism</em>. Rob Linrothe and Henrik Sorensen, eds. Copenhagen: Seminar for Buddhist Studies, 2001.
citation
Chen, Juanjuan, Nengfu Huang, Wenying Li, and Hao Peng. <em>Chinese Silks</em>. Edited by Dieter Kuhn and Feng Zhao. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2012.
page_number
Reproduced: fig. 6.31
citation
"Highlights from North American Collections." IDP<em> News: Newsletter of the International Dunhuang Project,</em> no. 49-50, Summer 2017, pp. 4–7.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 6
citation
Debreczeny, Karl. <em>Faith and Empire: Art and Politics in Tibetan Buddhism</em>. New York, NY: Rubin Museum of Art, 2019.
page_number
Reproduced: fig. 4.7, 4.8, 4.9 and 4.10, pp. 82–83, 94–97
citation
Debreczeny, Karl. "Faith and Empire: Art, Power and the Right to Rule." <em>Orientations</em> 50, no. 2 (March/April 2019):114–123.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 115, Reproduced: p. 116, fig. 3
creditline
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund
updatedAt
2026-05-29 11:27:01.411000
sourceId
156857
dept
Textiles
coll
Textiles
med
Thangka, silk tapestry with pearls
thumbnail_url
image_url
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
photo
mediaId
e284c5bf54435684