Tangka Paintings
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#17498
- Textile tangka
- Length: 33.50 inch
- Width: 25.25 inch
- Acquired: Likir Monastery, Ladakh, Jammu and Kashmir, India
- Koelz number: K572
Description
Tsongkapa. The central figure in this tangka is Tsongkapa (AD 1347-1419), founder of the Gelugpa Sect. The figures flanking him are probably his two disciples Gyaltsab Je and Khedrub, although the books that are usually in their left hands are missing. Since Tsongkapa is an incarnation of Manjushri, it is usual to have Manjushri's attributes, a sword and a book, at his shoulders. In this tangka there is a vajra and bell instead, a Tantrayana (Vajrayana) representation. At the lower left is a group of patrons who would appear to be the Ladakhi royalty in the late 16th or early 17th century, supporting a possible 17th-century attribution.
On the back of the tangka is an inscription written in Sanskrit. The original text is found at the end of most of the Mahayana Sutras (texts on Mahayana Buddhism) as a prayer of blessing or a sort of consecration or empowerment. It serves the same purpose on the tangka and translates into English as "The Tathagata has declared the causes of those dharmas that arise from causes, and he, the Great Shramana, in the same manner declares their cessation."