Three Mahasiddhas: Thogme, Nartapa and Lingbupa

Unknown (Tibetan)

Item type:

painting

Date of creation:

17th century

Height:

75.0 cm  (29 1/2 in.)

Width:

49.5 cm  (19 1/2 in.)

Technique / Medium:

colors and gold on cotton

Description

From the Národní galerie Praha website: Scenes from the lives of wonderworkers (the so-called “mahasiddhas”), who brought Buddhism to Tibet, are a principal theme in Buddhist painting. They are usually portrayed in a series of eighty-four figures, of which the NG owns four thangkas. Thogme was an ascetic who dressed in monastic robes, lived in the woods and authored scholarly writings. He experienced a vision of the future Buddha Maitreya, who is portrayed in the upper left corner. Nartapa was likewise an ascetic. He is adorned with jewels and clad in a skirt. He is portrayed with a doe, holding a reed pen. Lingbupa plays on the trumpet while his seat is kept afloat by water creatures known as “nagi”. He is cooled with a fan made of peacock feathers.

Iconclass

12H53 other religious functionaries ~ Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism
other religious functionaries ~ Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism

Instruments [MIMO Code] (notes)

Rgya-gling [4242] (also called gyaling (Tibetan: རྒྱ་གླི་; Wylie: rgya gli; English: also spelled gya ling, gya-ling))

RIdIM images

Image URLs

image link 1

RIdIM record id

5722