A THANG-KA DEPICTING THE HERUKA VAJRAKUMARA Tibet, 16th century pigment with gold on cloth, the fierce winged deity with three faces and six arms, in yab-yum with his consort, standing on prostrate figures on a lotus base within a flaming aureole, surrounded by eleven tiers of Buddha, Bodhisattva, lama and other Buddhist figures, silk and cotton mounts, the reverse with an image of a stupa and registers of Buddhist mantras 62 x 50cm (painting) Herukas are wrathful deities whose function is to defeat ignorance. Despite their fierce appearance and name ('blood drinker'), their role is benign.