Hemis Monastery: Kalacakra

INDIA, Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh

Kalacakra is the meditational deity of the Anuttarayoga Tantra, combining features of the Five Dhyani Buddhas, Adi Buddha, Bodhisattvas, and Dharma protectors, and personifying compassion and wisdom.
The blue Kalacakra has four heads and 24 arms. He has a tall usnisa and wears a red crown. The four heads are colored in blue, red, white, and yellow. Two of his hands are crossed in front of the chest, embracing his consort, Vishvamata, and holding a vajra and a bell. His other hands, painted in red, white, and blue, hold various objects including weapons, human body parts, a jewel, a conch shell, a Dharma wheel, a lotus, and the sword of wisdom. Vishvamata, with yellow skin, eight arms, and three heads, stands pressed against Kalacakra and tilts her head back. The two figures stand within a red mandorla surrounded by flame patterns.