Indian Adept (mahasiddha) - Padmavajra
(item no. 515)

Eastern Tibet

1700 - 1799

Karma (Kagyu) Lineage

53.98x38.74cm (21.25x15.25in)

Ground Mineral Pigment, Fine Gold Line on Cotton

Palpung / Situ Painting School

Collection of Rubin Museum of Art

(acc.# F1996.31.4)

 
Additional Images
   View Reverse Side


Padmavajra, Mahasiddha (Tibetan: pe ma dor je): a member of the 84 mahasiddhas of India.

Slightly tanned in complexion, with a growth of facial hair he looks upward while drinking from a skullcup filled with nectar, held in the right hand. With the left hand placed on the thigh he sits in a relaxed manner with the legs loosely folded together above a blue deerskin mat. The head is adorned with a crown of gold, jewels and a red ribbon. As a necklace, bracelets and armlets white bone ornaments decorate the body. A blue scarf adorns the shoulders and the lower body is wrapped with a red garment.

In front, on rolling clouds, a white goddess with flowing silks offers nectar from a golden pitcher. Below, flowers blossom above a rocky outcropping as two deer gambol in the open meadow. Atop the tall trees at the upper right sits a peaceful bodhisattva, green in colour, with one face and two hands, holding the stem of a lotus flower in the right hand and displaying the mudra of blessing with the left, seated above a moon disc and orange lotus blossom. At the upper left a meandering stream wanders through a valley of diverse green landscape.

Padmavajra is counted as one of the 8 important Indian Adepts revered in the Kagyu School of Tibetan Buddhism.

Jeff Watt 3-99


View other items in:
Publication
Publication: Worlds of Transformation

Thematic Set
Mahasiddha Paintings: New Karma Gadri Style
Collection of Rubin Museum of Art: Painting Gallery III
Painting Set: Indian Adept (misc.)
Painting Style: Karma Encampment (New)
Indian Adept: Padmavajra
1700 - 1799 (18th Century) Part I
Painting Style: Eastern Tibetan
Painting Set: Indian Adepts - Situ Composition II



Copyright © 2008 Shelley and Donald Rubin Foundation.
Photographed Image Copyright © 2004 Rubin Museum of Art