Kurukulla sculpture from Calcutta Art gallery 1913 (2)

Kurukullā (; also "Knowledge/magic/ vidyā Woman", "Mother-

Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha, was a wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist tradition, he was born in L ...

Kuru

ulle In Norse mythology, Ullr ( Old Norse: ) is a god associated with archery. Although literary attestations of Ullr are sparse, evidence including relatively ancient place-name evidence from Scandinavia suggests that he was a major god in earlier ...

or "Knowledge-Causing Mother-Buddha") is a female, peaceful to semi-wrathful

Yidam ''Yidam'' is a type of deity associated with tantric or Vajrayana Buddhism said to be manifestations of Buddhahood or enlightened mind. During personal meditation (''sādhana'') practice, the yogi identifies their own form, attributes and mi ...

Tibetan Buddhism Tibetan Buddhism (also referred to as Indo-Tibetan Buddhism, Lamaism, Lamaistic Buddhism, Himalayan Buddhism, and Northern Buddhism) is the form of Buddhism practiced in Tibet and Bhutan, where it is the dominant religion. It is also in majo ...

particularly associated with rites of magnetization or enchantment. Her Sanskrit name is of unclear origin. She is related to

Shri Yantra The Sri Yantra, Shri Yantra, or Shri Chakra is a form of mystical diagram (''yantra'') used in the Shri Vidya school of Hinduism. It consists of nine interlocking triangles - four upward ones which represent Shiva, and five downward ones represen ...

Hinduism Hinduism () is an Indian religion or '' dharma'', a religious and universal order or way of life by which followers abide. As a religion, it is the world's third-largest, with over 1.2–1.35 billion followers, or 15–16% of the global p ...

Representation

Kurukullā is a goddess whose body is usually depicted in red with four arms, holding a bow and arrow made of flowers in one pair of hands and a hook and noose of flowers in the other pair. She dances in a

Dakini A ḍākinī ( sa, डाकिनी; ; mn, хандарма; ; alternatively 荼枳尼, ; 荼吉尼, ; or 吒枳尼, ; Japanese: 荼枳尼 / 吒枳尼 / 荼吉尼, ''dakini'') is a type of female spirit, goddess, or demon in Hinduism and Bud ...

-pose and crushes the

asura Asuras (Sanskrit: असुर) are a class of beings in Indic religions. They are described as power-seeking clans related to the more benevolent Devas (also known as Suras) in Hinduism. In its Buddhist context, the word is sometimes translated ...

Rahu Rāhu ( Sanskrit: राहु, 16px, ☊) is one of the nine major celestial bodies (navagraha) in Hindu texts and the king of meteors. It represents the ascension of the moon in its precessional orbit around the earth, also referred as th ...

(the one who devours the sun). According to

Hindu astrology Jyotisha or Jyotishya (from Sanskrit ', from ' “light, heavenly body" and ''ish'' - from Isvara or God) is the traditional Hindu system of astrology, also known as Hindu astrology, Indian astrology and more recently Vedic astrology. It is one ...

, Rahu is a snake with a demon head (

Navagraha Navagraha are nine heavenly bodies and deities that influence human life on Earth according to Hinduism and Hindu astrology. The term is derived from ''nava'' ( sa, नव "nine") and ''graha'' ( sa, ग्रह "planet, seizing, laying hold of, ...

) who represents the ascending

lunar node A lunar node is either of the two orbital nodes of the Moon, that is, the two points at which the orbit of the Moon intersects the ecliptic. The ''ascending'' (or ''north'') node is where the Moon moves into the northern ecliptic hemisphere ...

. She is considered either an emanation of

Amitābha Amitābha ( sa, अमिताभ, IPA: ), also known as Amitāyus, is the primary Buddha of Pure Land Buddhism. In Vajrayana Buddhism, he is known for his longevity, discernment, pure perception, purification of aggregates, and deep awaren ...

, one of Tara's forms, or a transformation of

Heruka :''Heruka is also a name for the deity of the Cakrasaṃvara Tantra.'' ''Heruka'' (Sanskrit; Tibetan: ), is the name of a category of wrathful deities, enlightened beings in Vajrayana Buddhism that adopt a fierce countenance to benefit sentient b ...

History

Kurukullā was likely an Indian tribal deity associated with magical domination. She was assimilated into the Buddhist pantheon at least as early as the ''

Hevajra Tantra Hevajra (Tibetan: kye'i rdo rje / kye rdo rje; Chinese: 喜金剛 Xǐ jīngāng / 呼金剛 Hū jīngāng;) is one of the main yidams (enlightened beings) in Tantric, or Vajrayana Buddhism. Hevajra's consort is Nairātmyā (Tibetan: bdag med ...

'', which contains her

mantra A mantra ( Pali: ''manta'') or mantram (मन्त्रम्) is a sacred utterance, a numinous sound, a syllable, word or phonemes, or group of words in Sanskrit, Pali and other languages believed by practitioners to have religious, ...

. Her function in Tibetan Buddhism is the "red" function of subjugation. Her root tantra is the ''Arya-tara-kurukulle-kalpa'' (''Practices of the Noble Tara Kurukullā''). It was translated by Tsültrim Gyalwa, a disciple of

Atiśa ( bn, অতীশ দীপংকর শ্রীজ্ঞান, ôtiś dīpôṅkôr śrigyen; 982–1054) was a Buddhist religious leader and master. He is generally associated with his work carried out at the Vikramashila monastery in Biha ...

Buddhist story

She has a complex history of traditions. In one of the many stories, a queen was unhappy being neglected by her king. To win his affection, she sent her helper to find a solution. Her helper encountered a (dark-)red skinned enchantress in a market, who offered to do some magic. The enchantress gave magical food (or medicine) to the helper, and instructed the queen to give the food to the king to win his love by magical means. The queen upon receiving the magic item, decided that it was inappropriate/harmful, and threw it to into a lake. A

naga Naga or NAGA may refer to: Mythology * Nāga, a serpentine deity or race in Hindu, Buddhist and Jain traditions * Naga Kingdom, in the epic ''Mahabharata'' * Phaya Naga, mythical creatures believed to live in the Laotian stretch of the Mekong Ri ...

dragon king from the lake ate the food and was enchanted to impregnate the queen while both burn intensively in "flames of desire". The King learned about the pregnancy/saw the child and decided to punish the queen. The queen explained to the king what happened. The King decided to summon the enchantress into the palace. The king recognized and appreciated the enchantress as an extraordinary person (some said the enchantress was Kurukulla), and requested blessings and teachings from her. The king acquired magical powers siddhis from her practices and blessings, and then wrote instructions on the practice of Kurukulla.

Mantra

The essential mantra of Kurukullā is ''Oṃ Kurukulle Hrīḥ Svāhā'' (). This mantra uses the vocative form (Kurukulle) of her name.

References

Citations

Works cited

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External links

Kurukulla Main Page
at ''HimalayanArt.com'' {{Authority control Bodhisattvas Dakinis Taras