Item: Indian Adept (siddha)

Krishnacharin, Mahasiddha (also written as Krishnacharya) (detail).

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. (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 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19 and 20. The composition is the 3nd painting (L1) in the set and placed immediately to the proper left of the central painting.

Numbered List:
13. Tantipa, seated at a loom (upper left).
14. Chamaripa, dark in colour (upper center).
15. Khadgapa, holding a sword, flying in the sky (top right).
16. Nagarjuna, with a hood of writhing snakes (middle left).
17. Krishnacharya, riding atop a zombie (middle right).
18. Aryadeva, wearing the robes of a monk (bottom left).
19. Taganapa, seated under a tree (bottom center)
20. Naropa, wearing a human skin and holding a skullcup (bottom right).

Jeff Watt 6-2009

Thematic Sets
Painting Set: Indian Adepts (84) - Palpung Composition