An antique tsakli painting, Tibet, 19th Century or earlier depicting in vivid colours an offering to the wrathful deities of heaped flayed skins. A flayed elephant skin - the elephant was historically used as a weapon of war where its size and strength overcame obstacles in its path.
Wrathful deities are often shown wearing the blood stained skin of a freshly killed elephant stretched across their backs, which is sometimes referred to as 'Indra's skin'. The qualities of wrathful deities which are comparable to those of the wild elephant are revealed in their symbolic activities of bellowing, crushing, tearing, trampling and uprooting. The symbolism of the flayed elephant skin refers to the deity having 'torn the elephant of ignorance asunder'. The second is a tiger skin - the symbol of strength, fearlessness and military prowess. A full tiger skin often formed the seat or asana of certain deities, yogins, siddhas, oracles and great teachers. This has its origin in Hindu tradition, where Shiva killed the tiger of desire and used its skin as his meditation seat, symbolising his transcendence over desire. Wrathful male deities usually wear a dhoti or lower garment of tiger skin.
These two in combination imply the presence, if not the image, of a wrathful deity. A single line of text to the reverse.
8 x 9.1cm