Himalayan Art Resources

Item: Padmasambhava - Guru Dragpur (meditational form)

པད་མ་འབྱུང་གནས། 莲花生大士
(item no. 463)
Origin Location Bhutan
Date Range 1600 - 1699
Lineages Drukpa (Kagyu) and Buddhist
Size 76.20x48.26cm (30x19in)
Material Ground Mineral Pigment, Fine Gold Line on Silk
Collection Rubin Museum of Art
Catalogue # acc.# F1996.16.6
Notes about the Central Figure

Classification: Deity

Appearance: Wrathful

Gender: Male

Interpretation / Description

Guru Dragpur, (English: Wrathful Kila Teacher) fierce Padmasambhava, from the Pure Vision Lineage of Drugchen Padma Karpo (1527-1592).

Very wrathful in appearance, red in colour, with one face and three round eyes, he has a gaping mouth with bared fangs and flaming hair rising upward. The right hand held aloft firmly grasps a gold vajra sceptre and the left a black scorpion - both arms extended to the sides. Adorned with a crown of five skulls, gold earrings, bracelets, necklaces and a snake garland, he wears a string of human heads. An elephant hide covers the shoulders with a tiger skin wrapped about the waist. Without legs, the lower body is composed of a large black kila (Tibetan: phur ba), three edged peg, extending downward from the gaping mouth of a makara sea creature. Standing on a triangular base adorned with skulls, above a sun disc and red lotus blossom, he is surrounded by the swirling red flames of pristine awareness.

At the top center is Amitabha, the buddha of boundless light, gold in colour, with the hands in the mudra (gesture) of meditation supporting a black begging bowl in the lap. At the left is Shadakshari Chaturbhuja Avalokiteshvara, white (painted with gold) with one face and four hands. At the right is Guru Rinpoche Padmasambhava, holding a vajra to the heart, a white skullcup in the lap and a katvanga staff against the shoulder, wearing red and blue robes and a red lotus hat. Each sits above a moon disc and red lotus blossom.

At the bottom left a monk wearing red robes and a pandita hat holds with both hands a folio book; seated in a relaxed posture on a cloth mat. At the right an older lama with a full beard, attired in the garb of a monk and wearing a meditation hat, performs the mudra of earth witness with the right hand and holds a gold vase in the lap with the left.

Jeff Watt 3-99

Reverse of Painting
Special Features: (includes "Om Ah Hum" inscription)

Secondary Images
Related Items
Thematic Sets
Collection of Rubin Museum of Art: Painting Gallery 2
Collection of Rubin Museum of Art: Bhutan
Padmasambhava: Guru Dragpur Main Page
Region: Bhutan, Deities
Tradition: Drugpa Kagyu Main Page