The citipati are the lords of the funeral pyre and charnel or burial grounds, and are the skeleton companions of Yama, the Lord of Death. And yet, they are intended to be humorous or comic figures in Mongolian and Tibetan sacred dance, despite their gruesome appearance. This accounts for their dynamic dance poses and their smiling countenances. Citipati are most properly represented as a pair - one is male and the other is female, and most usually (though not always) they are thought to be brother and sister. This superb pair of dancing citipati is from 19th century Mongolia. The two are shown on a lotus petal base, and with an oval backing plate or aureole. The group is made from painted papier mache, wood, clay and cloth. Each citipati balances on one leg only with arms thrown up in joyous abandon. Each has three eyes (or at least empty eye sockets), and a crown of five mini-skulls, attesting to their high status among the denizens of the underworld. Their rib cages are particularly evocative with the gaps between the ribs being coloured blood-pink. They wear a green and a blue waist sash. Each holds an attribute - one holds a skull kapala bowl, and the other hold the upside down remnants of perhaps a small human. It is rare to find citipati from the 19th century represented in this way. More typically they are found portrayed on tsa tsa tablets or in tankas or other forms of painting. By the same token, the use of papier mache for sculptural works and masks was common in 19th century Mongolia, almost alone among the Buddhist kingdoms of Asia.

Dancing Citipati Buddhist sculpture
paper mache, paint
late 19th century CE
Mongolia

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