Vajrabhairava

Rare black-ground thanka features the ferocious protective deity Vajrabhairava locked in cosmic embrace with his sakti, or female counterpart; he tramples birds, animals, demons and Hindu deities underfoot; his thirty-two secondary hands radiate around him, holding attributes; he wears garlands of severed human heads, skulls, and a five-skull tiara; central figures encircled by manifestations of the guardian Mahakala.