Description
Yab-yum is a Tibetan word combination. Yab means "honorable father" and "yum" means "honorable mother." Yab-yum is simply a sexual position often found in Tibetan and Hindu art, usually on metal statues and thangka paintings. Yab-yum in Tibetan art: The yab-yum motif appears in two basic variations. In the first position, the male figure, a wrathful deity, stands, holding his female partner against his lap, or if his hands are too busy, the woman clings to his neck. In this position, she usually touches the ground with one leg. The other leg is wrapped around the man's hip. In the second position, the man sits in the lotus position and his female partner sits on his lap. Neither position looks particularly comfortable and is meant to represent the flexibility of an Indian yogi. The whole position is made even more difficult because in most depictions 'yab' and 'yum' hold some strange things in their hands, such as frightening symbols like daggers or skulls.
