First Storey

Kimbara, who stands on Kulikah's left, is shown as a 1.43 metres tall, fair-skinned, barefooted young boy with long dark blue hair covering parts of his ears. He stands upright, resting his weight on his left leg. His two hands display the anjali mudra (prostration hand gesture) at the level of his chest. He is half-naked with three heavenly scarves draped over his body and wears golden bracelets, anklets, and necklace. He is clothed in an orange gold-patterned skirt knotted on the right of his waist which flows down to his shins. Folded back around his waist, the skirt reveals an inner lining of light blue material. Between his thumbs and index fingers, he holds a long single-pronged vajra.

Both are expressionless with long earlobes, slender curving eyebrows and finely pursed red lips.

All three figures are depicted on top of moss-covered rock formations featuring milk-white lichens.

Symbolically, Acala is also represented by his sword of wisdom Kulikah (Kulika, Japanese: Kurikara) to destroy illusions; or as a naga or dragon coiled around a sword and biting the sword tip, surrounded by flames.

The portrayal of Acalanatha as Kulikah is derived from the "Sutra that illustrated the Kulikah Naga defeating the practitioner of unorthodox ways". During one of the rhetoric discussions, Acalanatha transformed himself into a flaming sword and the unorthodox practitioner immediately mimicked him and transformed himself into a similar flaming sword. The next thing that happened was that Acalanatha transformed again into a naga, this time he swallowed his opponent completely, gave out a cry equivalent to two trillion thunders, sending jolts of panic and terror to the evil beings and unorthodox practitioners and finally, persuaded them to accept Buddhist teachings.

Kulika is also considered one of the Eight Nagarajas (Naga kings).

Acala is mentioned extensively in THE VAIROCANĀBHISAṂBODHI SUTRA (Mahāvairocana-abhisaṃbodhi-tantra), as follows:

According to Fudo Myo-o (Fudou Myou-ou) - Wrathful Messenger Who Protects & Serves Dainichi Buddha, Japanese Buddhism Art History,

Acala or Kulikah is usually flanked by two kumaras or mahakumaras (child attendants or acolytes), Kimkara (Kinkara, Japanese: Kongara Doji) and Cetaka (Japanese: Seitaka Doji). Kumaras are divine boys between the ages of 8 and 20, who serve as attendants to other deities, notably Acala. Some art show Acala attended by 2, 3, 5, 8 (Eight Great Youths), 36 and even 48 kumaras.

Usually, on Acala's left stands Kimkara, with his palms closed, holding a single-pronged pestle between his hands and dressed in cascading heavenly robes. Cetaka, on the other hand, the child attendant depicted on his right, is holding onto a vajra staff and dressed in the same heavenly robes. Kimkara is usually depicted in pale white skin colour, an embodiment of compassion to worshippers of Acalanatha, while Cetaka is depicted in red skin colour, an indication of his wrath to discipline erring followers in mending their ways.

He usually holds in his right hand a double-edged sword with a three-pointed vajra handle vertically (to combat the 3 poisons - greed, anger and ignorance) which winds a dragon surrounded by flames and in his left hand a rope lariat or lasso with a hook or two pointed varja at each end (to catch and bind evil forces to prevent them from doing harm). He has a blue body clad in monastic rags, a wrathful face with eyes glaring angrily, a pronounced squint, teeth are bared, with one fang pointing up and another pointing down, and a braid on the left side of his head. His halo of flames is to consume all troubles.

His statues are generally placed near waterfalls and deep in the mountains and in caves. Acala is usually accompanied by eight child acolytes, of whom Kongara (Kinkara) and Seitaka (Chetaka) are often shown close to him.

The above Kulikah statue (TB031) is displayed at the mezzanine floor in our Eminent Sangha Museum. It is a smaller version with the main difference being the bodily posture of the dragon: its body is coiled around the sword upside-down with its tail at the top and its head at the bottom, looking back upwards.