Vajradhara and the Great Adepts (Mahasiddhas); From a Pelpung set of The Eighty-four Great Tantric Adepts

Vajradhara is the root guru of the Mahamudra (Mahāmudrā), one of the main Kagyü teachings, and the mahasiddhas are the exemplary practitioners of those teachings. This was once the central piece of an eleven-painting set depicting the Eighty-Four Great Adepts from Abhayadattashri’s (Abhayadattaśrī) series. At the center of this painting is Vajradhara and consort Bhagavani with the first four adepts (clockwise from bottom left): Lilapa (Līlapa), the hedonistic king; Luipa (Lūipa), eating fish guts; Virupa (Virūpa), stopping the sun; and Ḍombi Heruka, riding a tiger with his consort, as well as the meditational deity Achala and the protector deity Four-Armed Mahakala, each identified by inscriptions.

Situ Penchen’s diaries do not mention paintings depicting this theme of the eighty-four mahasiddhas, but they probably trace back to a Pelpung Monastery original from around his time. On the back of the mount at the top of the cotton lining a small cotton patch is stitched bearing a small inscription, which reads, “Main painting of a set depicting the hundred great adepts. Commissioned by the honorable Jikmé Gönpo (’jigs med mgon po). [In] the tradition of Situ (si tu’i lugs), painted by [an artist from] Karsho.” This inscription makes this work important, as it links the set definitively with Situ Penchen’s tradition and specifies that it was the work of a painter from Karshö.

This donor may be the Second Drimé Zhingkyong, Jikmé Rindzin Gönpo (dri med zhing skyong ‘jigs med rig ‘dzin mgon po; d.1836?), of Kahtok Monastery. While a Nyingma institution, Situ was closely involved with Kahtok, which was not far from Pelpung Monastery. Karshö is a center of artistic activity near Situ’s former seat, Karma Monastery, where Situ recruited many artists for his commissions. These artists worked within their own Kham-based Encampment style, which existed in Karshö before and after Situ’s time.

This set of the eighty-four mahasiddhas follows the same general tradition as Situ’s teacher Tséwang Norbu (1698–1755) of Kahtok Monastery, who composed a written description (bris yig) of this group that followed, in part, a written description by Tāranātha (tA ra nA tha; 1575–1634), which Tsewang Norbu “rescued from a dust heap” in Jonang.

In a later nineteenth-century copy some of the forms have hardened and become schematic, but it nonetheless reflects some distinctive features of Situ’s compositions, including the unusually diminutive rendering of figures in open, airy landscapes and the contrasting miniaturist treatments of trees, buildings, palaces, courtyards, and reed mats, all depicted in precise detail, with every leaf and brick delineated. This is a clever visual strategy to draw the eye into each vignette. The varying scale of the figures such as the mahasiddhas and the much smaller attending figures is another notable characteristic.

The distinctive coloring of ochres and soft browns seems to have been added later with a pigment or stain, possibly to make it look older. It is possible to see, for instance, where the added pigment overlaps the green of the landscape (especially at mid-left between Luipa and Vajradhara) and places where the ground of the painting is visible, such as the lighter color behind the hills at mid-canvas and behind the hills framing the central deity.