Vajrabhairava in Yab-Yum

The central figure of Vajrabhairava has a bull's head, multiple ferocious faces, and numerous arms holding various ritual implements, including a skull cup and a flaying knife. He and his blue-skinned female consort, Vajravetali, are locked in a sexual embrace while positioned atop a throne of severed human heads and various prone figures. They are enclosed within a massive, swirling aureole of orange and red flames, set against a background of mountain peaks and smaller deities floating in the upper and lower registers.

Vajrabhairava is a primary wrathful manifestation of Manjushri in the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism, representing the transmutation of aggression into wisdom. The iconography is derived from the Vajrabhairava Tantra, a central text of the Anuttarayoga Tantra class focused on the eradication of ignorance.