This antique tanka  appeared in the Oglethorpe University exhibit February 12, 2006,  wearing her new, and celestially appropriate, cosmos frame.  Here, an enlargement and Text Plate Text by Glenn H. Mullin, curator.

An Angel with a Bite
Mid-1500s
Mineral pigment on cotton canvas
This wonderful painting from Mongolia's Sakya period (1250-1600) is executed  in typical Sakya style, with nothing to distinguish it from a Tibetan piece of the same period. High-ranking lamas on teaching tours often took their own artists with them for occasions in which it would be appropriate to gift a tangka or statue to some temple or patron. Moreover, high lamas from Tibet were often invited to assist in the building and then consecration of Mongolian temples during this period, and having one's own artists on hand was a must.
     The central image is the dakini Nairatmya, "The Selfless One." In general, Nairatmya is the female disciple to whom the Buddha gave the Hevajra Tantra transmission. Hevajra as a tantric mandala deity is usually shown as dancing on one leg while locked in sexual union with Nairatmya . We can see him in this form in the top left corner, his sixteen hands showing the techniques for achieving the wisdoms of the sixteen aspects of the great void. In the Sakya tradition, the Hevajra transmission is the quintessential basis of the esoteric Lam-drey instruction, whereby the one taste of samsara and nirvana is brought into play with the wisdom of bliss and void.
     The Indian lineage gurus can be seen along the top of the tangka. All of them are mentioned in Sakya texts on the tradition. The later Sakya masters can be seen below. Both Drakpa Gyaltsen and Chogyal Pakpa can be spotted here with those of keen eye. Elsewhere in this exhibition we have tangkas of both these early Sakya masters from the Genghis and Kublai Khan periods, respectively.
The specific form of Nairatmya shown here comes from one of three visions experienced by the tenth century Indian mahasiddha Virupa, the principal Indian source of the quintessential Sakya tantric lineages.
     As all Buddhist yidams, she has outer, inner, secret and most secret meanings. On the outer level, she is the female disciple to whom Buddha gave the Hevajra Tantra, one of the Wheel of Bliss Mother Tantras.
On the inner level she is the blissful wisdom that arises when a meditator experiences the place at which samsara are of one nature. On the secret level she is one of the three forms of Nairatmya that appeared to the Indian mahasiddha Virupa, the principal Indian source of the Sakya School lineages. Thus, she is a visionary aspect of enlightenment energy that appears to meditators in visions and enhances their enlightenment.
On the most secret level she is the secret gate in the sexual orgasmic experience wherein the unity of samsara and nirvana becomes self-evident, and all experience becomes of one taste.