Item: Indian Adept (siddha)

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.