Item: Shakyamuni Buddha

Shakyamuni Buddha accompanied by the Six Ornaments and Two Excellent Ones of the Southern Continent, and nine additional scholars making a group of seventeen - known as the Seventeen Great Scholars of Nalanda Monastery.

The system of the Seventeen Great Scholars (or Pandits) of Nalanda Monastery appears to be a more recent grouping of the important Buddhist scholars of India generally referred to as the Six Ornaments and Two Excellent Ones. The system of seventeen has been promoted and referred to extensively by the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso. This system is also likely to be based on the Indian teachers of the Lamrim Lineage of the Gelug Tradition of Tibetan Buddhism.

Seventeen Scholars of Nalanda Monastery:
1. Nagarjuna
2. Acharya Aryadeva
3. Buddhapalita
4. Bhavaviveka
5. Chandrakirti
6. Shantideva
7. Shantarakshita
8. Kamalashila
9. Arya Asanga
10. Acharya Vasubandhu
11. Dignaga
12. Dharmakirti
13. Vimuktisena
14. Simhabhadra (Haribhadra)
15. Gunaprabha
16. Shakyaprabha
17. Dipamkara Atisha

Jeff Watt 2-2011

Front of Painting
English Translation of Inscription: [Name inscription beneath each figure].

Reverse of Painting
Wylie Transliteration of Inscription: Om muni muni mahamuniye svaha. Om ye dharma...

Special Features: (Printed script (Uchen), Ranjana script (Ornamental Sanskrit), includes "Om Ah Hum" inscription)