Item: Indian Adept (siddha) - (unidentified)

Siddha (unidentified). There is another example of this siddha in a textile work circa 1915, Hangzhou, China, that depicts the same figure along with the Ghantapada of the Nartang Extended Painting Set.

Siddha iconography: the Siddha has [1] Mahasiddha Appearance, bone ornamenyts, dark complexion, holding a hand drum and katvanga staff on the right side and a skullcup in the upraised left hand. At the top left is an [2] Indian scholar wearing monastic attire and a pandita hat. At the top right is [3] White Chakrasamvara and consort according to the special tradition of Lama Umapa and Tsongkapa. At the bottom right is [4] Chaturbhuja Mahakala, dark blue, wrathful, with one face and four arms.

The unusual characteristics are the White Chakrasamvara with the elaborate torana, backrest, the twisting tree trunk at the middle left with the expansive canopy of leaves at the top left, the upward protruding rocky outcropping at the middle right, the pond and flower at the lower center, and the cemetery scene at the bottom left.

Jeff Watt 7-2013