Kalachakra, Wheel of Time. Tibet. 1400s.
The painting depicts the mandala of the Buddha Kalachakra, with the multi-colored semi-wrathful god in union with his prajña Vishvamata, Mother of the Universe. The deities represent one of the most complex practices of the Unexcelled Yoga Tantras in Tibetan Vajrayana Buddhism.
Kalachakra is depicted with four heads and twenty-four arms, with his principal head and upper body in blue symbolising great wisdom. His red face represents passion, the white purity, and the yellow head facing rewards, single-mindedness in meditation. One leg is white and the other red, denoting two separate halves of the yearly cycle. In union with his golden eight-armed prajña with four heads in white, blue, red and gold, the couple represent the embodiment of wisdom and compassion, the goal of Tibetan meditational practice leading to enlightenment and salvation of sentient beings.