Tangka Paintings
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#17467
- Textile tangka
- Length: 18.00 inch
- Width: 16.25 inch
- Acquired: Karsha Monastery, Zanskar, Jammu and Kashmir, India
- Koelz number: K534
Description
The four main figures in this tangka, clockwise from the upper left, are Shakyamuni, Tsongkapa, Tara, and Sadaksari Avalokiteshvara.
The Buddha Shakyamuni is flanked by his disciples Sariputra and Maudgalyayan. Lama Tsongkapa (1357-1419) is the founder of the Gelugpa sect of Tibetan Buddhism. His hands are in the mudra of dharma. The lotuses at his shoulders support the sword of wisdom and book. He wears a yellow pandita hat, pointed at the top and draping down onto his shoulders. He is flanked by his two principal disciples, Gyaltsab Je and Khedrub, their right hands in a teaching/argumentation (vitarka) mudra, with a book in their left hands. Green Tara occupies the lower right quadrant. She is flanked by two Bodhisattvas. The Sadaksari form of Avalokiteshvara, on the lower left, is flanked by the same two Bodhisattvas. This four-armed form of Avalokiteshvara is incarnate in the Dalai Lama.
Between Tara and Avalokiteshvara is a smaller image of the Bodhisattva Manjushri. Above Manjushri is an image of Padmasambhava, who founded the first Buddhist temple in Tibet. Below Manjushri is a group of patrons. The two women wear headdresses like ones painted at the Basgo Monastery in the 17th century.