Kurukulla (Tib. ‘she who is the source of wisdom’, Tib. ku ru ku le) is one of the dakinis of Tibetan Buddhism. Considered the embodiment of the Red Tara.
She is the patroness of magic, love, sorcery and healing. Her attribute is a drawn bow and arrow made of flowers. According to the Shakti Kubera Tantra, she is the wife of Kubera, the deity of wealth and prosperity. The Hindu counterpart of Kurukulla is the goddess Rati. Also, a number of features make her related to Kali, in particular, it is believed that the Indian mother of the caves named Kurukulla Matrikadevi (Mother Goddess) was one of the oldest incarnations of the goddess Kali.
In traditional iconography, the body of the goddess is red. Kurukulla wears a crown of human skulls and her hair stands on end. Around her waist is a tiger skin, and a garland of severed human heads descends from her shoulders. She is four-armed, in her hands is a stretched flower bow.
According to the texts, Kurukulla is sixteen years old because sixteen is the ideal number that signifies perfection, four times four. Her face is beautiful, and her body is sensual and seductive. She is red in color because her magical ability is to enchant and attract. She has one face, because she embodies non-dual wisdom, beyond the usual division into good and evil.
She is naked, because she is not conditioned by the chaotic movement of thought. She has four hands, which symbolize the four immeasurable states of mind: love, compassion, joy, and equanimity. She holds a bow and arrow entwined with flowers, indicating her ability to create desire in the minds of others. In her other two hands she holds a hook that attracts and draws others to her, and a noose with which she binds their will. The ornaments of human bones on her signify the five perfections, while she herself personifies the sixth perfection or wisdom. She wears a necklace of fifty freshly cut human heads that are bleeding because she has conquered fifty negative emotions.
Her dance shows her activity and energy, her compassionate activity is manifested in both Samsara and Nirvana. She tramples on a male corpse because she has enchanted and subdued the ego demon, and stands on a red sun disc because her nature is hot and burning with passion, and on a red lotus flower because she is the pure vision of enlightened awareness. For the meditator, all this is a reminder of the purity of the vision of the dakini.