Himalayan Art Resources

Item: Indian Adept (siddha)

རྒྱ་གར་གྱི་གྲུབ་ཆེན། 印度大成就者
(item no. 90206)
Origin Location Eastern Tibet
Date Range 1500 - 1599
Lineages Uncertain
Material Ground Mineral Pigment on Cotton
Collection Moke Mokotoff
Notes about the Central Figure

Classification: Person

Interpretation / Description

Kontapa, Naropa and Atisha from the group of 84 mahasiddhas according to the system of Vajrasana. The full set of paintings, the complete composition, was made up of twenty-nine individual works.

At the top center is Kontapa, a pale yogi wearing a simple white cloth about the waist and a bag across the back supported by a yellow strap. Seated on an elaborate throne, he gazes upward.

At the bottom left is Naropa, depicted as a dark-skinned yogi with an elaborate headdress and earrings holding outstretched a flayed human skin.

At the right is Atisha performing the mudra (gesture) of Dharma Teaching with both hands held to the heart. Wearing the orange patchwork robes of a monk and the head crowned with a pandita hat, he sits in vajra posture beneath an ornate canopy.

Jeff Watt 4-2000

Front of Painting
Wylie Transliteration of Inscription: [middle center] ... [bottom left] ... [bottom right] jo bo a ti sha.

Related Items
Thematic Sets
Painting Tradition: Khyenri Main Page
Collection of Moke Mokotoff
Indian Adept Main Page (Mahasiddha)
Painting Set: Indian Adepts (Khyenri II)
Painting Sets: Khyenri Style Mahasiddhas
Painting Style: Khyenri - Teachers & Siddhas
Subject: Vajrasana Mahasiddha (Miscellaneous)
Indian Adept (Mahasiddha): Painting (Late Period 17th to the Present)