Vajray(a)over-barna art and iconography

Iconographic imagery in the Indo-Tibetan Buddhist. Tantric (i.e., Vajrayana ) tradition is replete with polymorphic symbolic forms. Tantric texts thems elves are multivalent, addressing astronomy, astrology, cosmology, history embryology, physiology, pharmacology, alchemy, botany, philosophy, and sexu ality. The Sri Kalacakra, a medieval Indo-Tibetan manuscript of great impor t, describes ritual visualization sequences in which practitioners visualiz e elaborate mandala designs and deified yab-yum (father-mother) consort cou ples. The Kalacakra system is the preeminent conduit for the globalization of Tibetan Buddhism, and contemporary enactments of its initiation ceremony incorporate a variety of aesthetic genres, including sand mandala construc tion and ritual dance.