Item: Indian Adept (siddha) - Luipa

Mahasiddha Luipa eating fish entrails, belonging to both the system of eight and eighty-four great siddhas.

Luipa's only identifiable characteristic or attribute are the fish entrails that are held in the hand, or that he is holding to the mouth and eating. He appears as a lay person although some painting traditions such as the New Menri often depict him in siddha appearance, disheveled, with bone ornaments.

The Sri Lankan teacher Luipa is most famous for popularizing the Chakrasamvara cycle of practices. He is included in both the Abhayakara Gupta and Vajrasana systems for enumerating the Eighty-four Mahasiddhas and the Eight Siddha System. He is also included in the Tibetan number set known as the 'Lu Nag Dril Sum,' the Three Siddhas: Luipa, Krishnacharin and Ghantapa who are the principal progenitors of the Chakrasamvara teachings in Tibet.

This composition likely belongs to a much larger set of paintings depicting each of the Eighty-four Mahasiddhas according to one of the five or more systems of enumeration. Only two of the compositions from the larger set are currently known.

Jeff Watt 4-2022