The Citipati are two skeletons, one of a man and the other of a woman,
represented with arms and legs interlaced, dancing the Tsam dance. They are
considered to be masters of the cemetery. The Citipati are one of the
seventy-five forms of
Mahakala and are visible reminders of the impermanence
of everything worldly. Their mouths are parted in a large grin, showing all
their teeth. Each wears a long scarf.
According to a Northern Buddhist legend, the Citipati were, in a former
existence, two ascetics who were once lost in such deep meditation that they
did not notice that a thief had cut off their heads and thrown them in the
dust. Since that time they have been ferocious enemies of thieves, having
vowed eternal vengeance. This legend is somewhat similar to that of Yama.
In the cemetery, the Citipati are supposed to perform a skeleton ritual
dance during which they blow the Tibetan long horns. In most monasteries the
dance, symbolic of the cycle of life and death, is performed in the
monastery cemetery once in summer and once in winter by monks wearing masks.
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