Formal Visual Analysis of Yamantaka Vajrabhairava
Yamantaka Vajrabhairava is a sculpture of a buffalo-headed figure with multiple heads, hands and legs. Although the creature communicates an energy which may at first seem menacing because of its face and the objects either held in its hands or stomped underfoot, when one includes the image of the peaceful man surmounting him, one will realize that it is using this energy protectively rather than aggressively.
Before I prove my argument, I am going to provide a more detailed description of the sculpture. This whole object is standing straight, communicating a sense of majesty at first glance. It is raised on a table with a pedestal, but it is as wide as the arm length of a 10-year-old child and should reach an adult’s chin if resting on the ground. Because it is huge in size, viewers need to go to both of its sides in order to be able to perceive every part of it clearly, but its front is more busier than the back, meaning that it is usually seen from the front. Although covered with a layer of paint in dark blue, red and gold, this sculpture is made of wood because its wood grain is fairly visible. Besides the buffalo face, this figure has six other faces in blue, red, yellow, white, grey and black. At the very top of Yamantaka’s head is the head of a peaceful, amiable man adorned with a crown and beautiful jewelry; the body of this man is not included in this sculpture. Its 34 hands are stretching out and holding a number of different weapons. Some items are hiding behind those in the front, which adds to the overall complexity of this piece of art. Under its eight feet are four birds on its left side, two bulls, one horse, and one person on its right side. There are a few rectangular holes on the pedestal, suggesting that it is used to be lifted for rituals. Besides, there is a ribbon of flame floating around its neck and going down to the feet.
As you can imagine, because of its color, size, and face as well as the weapons held in its hands and the animals trod underneath, my first reaction to this sculpture is that this is a menacing horrifying creature. When I came in to the exhibition room, this object grabbed my eyes immediately, since it is dark and huge in both length and width; every one of its feet is bigger than the animal underneath it. This sculpture gave me a negative, gloomy feeling, but also a sense of mystery, so I stopped because I wanted to look closer at it for a while. After spending some time observing it, I found out more intimidating details. The buffalo has a large, toothy mouth that could possibly gulp everything down, and it is frowning with eyes wide open, looking rather ferocious. It is wearing a long necklace with human heads as pendants. The expressions and details on the human heads indicate that people were bleeding and suffering before their deaths, which were caused by the necklace’s owner. Objects in its hands include a foot, a forearm and human intestines with blood. People usually get scared and depressed by human corpses, let alone organs and severed heads. Also in the creature’s hands are weapons and objects such as knives, daggers, arrows, swords and axes. Related to war and death, these destructive things remind viewers of unpleasant matters, thus making them terrified of the owner, which is the buffalo-headed figure. Therefore, all of the details above illustrate the menace of this sculpture.
Although it displays a sense of threat and intimidation, this monster-looking creature conveys strength, power and energy. First of all, this figure is muscular, which is part of the reason that it is large in size. Not only could its big mouth and wrinkled eyebrows be evidence of its power and energy, but also its third eye which represents its ability to see things in the world that two-eyed creatures cannot see. It holds many implements in its hands, including knives, arrows, drums, a wheel, a dagger, an axe, a sword, a bow, a bell, a flag, ropes, a bowl with human blood. These weapons suggest its omnipotence and power: whoever approaching is trying to hurt it, Yamantaka could always find the perfect weapon and kill it. As it is mentioned earlier, this figure is stepping on eight animals. If it was not powerful enough, no creature would be willing to be trampled underfoot. On account of the holes under his eight other feet in the middle, there should be more objects or animals underneath. No matter how many creatures are trod under, its standing on different animals and humans manifests its ability to control everything in the world. This is also shown by the five creatures that are connected to the pedestal in front of Yamantaka. They are kneeling in front of the sculpture as if to communicate awe to the main figure. To sum up, the third eye, its objects in hands and the animals show that it is a powerful creature.
In addition to this object, the sculpture is composed of both linear and volumetric elements which reiterate the visualization of energy and power. A sense of circular energy showed up when I followed the flow of layering necklaces back and forth from its neck to chest. Similar patterns are seen on its apron-like decoration as well, where lines intersect with each other, as various sources of energies meet and then depart repeatedly. Thus, both its apron and neck decorations have their own patterns of energy. Because it can reach far enough, Yamantaka’s hands and legs provide a sense of volume through the arrangement of far and near, all of which speak of its powerful energy. Furthermore, there is a ribbon of cosmic flame floating in the air around its neck instead of hanging on its shoulder. The lightness of the flame represents an invisible power from the universe, a place with greater space, energy, and power. Therefore, this whole figure displays an overall sense of strength, power and energy from its face, weapons in hands, animals underfoot, cosmic flame as well as the application of line and volume.
Despite its menace and strength, Yamantaka makes use of its power and energy in order to protect people rather than to attack them, when one considers the peaceful man surmounting him. At first I thought this creature was an evil figure who caused everybody pain, since it is commanding and powerful. Every part of it is revealing the unyielding spirit of this creature, as if it would not give way to hardness and authority because it is the strongest one. However, one cannot ignore the calm, serene person located at the highest point in this sculpture. Framed by the headpiece of the creature, he is looking ahead with narrowed eyes and smiling peacefully, which makes the viewers feel relaxed while looking at him. Compared to the creature he is sitting on, this man’s head is smaller than any one of the creature’s hands. One interesting point is the sharp contrast between the man’s sedation and the creature’s intimidation. The man is calm and relaxing, whereas Yamantaka seems to be crouching with bare teeth and brandish hands. In fact, the person’s location manifests his overall importance in this sculpture. If this creature was a dangerous demon, it would not be its nature to allow a peaceful and weak human to sit on top of its head, because otherwise its power and unyieldingness would take actions to draw him away. Therefore, the existence of this little person suggests that the monster is as kind as the smiling man, despite its menacing look. It does not use its energy aggressively but protectively. This creature needs to be muscular, strong and terrifying in order to defeat the evil and make sure people are safe. For this reason, those various weapons are used to fight against death and evil spirits; its ferocious face and those animals underfoot are used to scare evil spirits away; linear and volumetric elements as well as the flame are used to display its energy. In consequence, it does not use its power to hurt others, and instead it exerts its force and energy on the vicious in a protective manner, with the help of the smaller figure.
As a whole, this Yamantaka figure shows that it is powerful, strong, omnipotent, and awe-inspiring based on its stance, heads, limbs, and other things on, under, and besides it. It may look menacing at first glance because of its dark color, large size, scary face, cold and shiny weapons, and necklace of dead people’s heads. Then, after spending more time observing this sculpture, one will find that it is strong, powerful, and full of energy, if one takes into account those menacing elements and visual components of line and volume, such as the flame and the body decorations. With more careful observations of the amiable person at the very top, it is not hard to conclude that this buffalo-headed creature does not play an evil role, but is applying its violence and energy to protect all people. While it’s appearance and character do not agree, this huge, dark, and scary sculpture possesses enormous energy to keep others from harm.