Item: Indian Adept (siddha) - (multiple figures)

Eighty-four Mahasiddha of the Abhayadatta System based on the depictions documented by Jonang Taranata (1575-1635) as commissioned and painted as murals in the Ganden Puntsogling Monastery, Tibet (grubs thob brgya bcu rtsa bzhi'i 'bri tshul bzhugs so). See Abhayadatta Outline Page.

This painting belongs to an eleven painting set and depicts eight Indian adepts, siddhas, from early in the list following the Abhayadatta system: number 5, 6, 7, 8, 13, 15, 18 and 20. The composition is likely the 2nd painting (R1) in the set and placed immediately to the proper right of the central painting. This same number of paintings and the general composition is also followed by the later 18th and 19th century Palpung sets that depict the same Eighty-four Mahasiddhas described by Jonang Taranata. (See examples R1 HAR #15432 and L1 HAR #73421). There is also a good example of a 19th century Eastern Tibetan initiation card set that follows the same iconographic model.

Numbered List - Greyscale Image:
5. Shavaripa, holding a bow and arrow and wearing peacock feathers (bottom right).
6. Saraha, holding an arrow (bottom center).
7. Kankaripa (bottom left).
8. Minapa, naked, standing on a fish (middle left).
13. Tantipa, the weaver seated at a loom (middle right).
15. Khadgapa, flying in the sky (top left).
18. Aryadeva (Karnaripa), dressesd as a monk (top middle).
20. Naropa, wearing a human skin (top right).

Jeff Watt 6-2009

Front of Painting
English Translation of Inscription: [Tibetan name inscriptions for each of the eight figures]