Item: Teacher (Lama) - Sakya Pandita Kunga Gyaltsen

There are three previous depictions of Sakya Pandita which this mural in Gongkar Chode College could be based on.

Compare to this HAR 60349, a mural in the Old Protector Chapel of Gongkar Chode.

Compare to this painting HAR 15667, the set it comes from is unidentified.

Compare to this painting HAR 35669 which is part of a Lamdre lineage set in the British museum.

Of these three previous depictions, the pose of Sakya Pandita, sitting in royal ease posture, with left hand extended, holding a lotus and right hand making the teaching gesture at the heart, matches HAR 60349 exactly. Because HAR 60349 is an old mural in Gongkar Chode, it makes sense for the College mural artist to copy the pose of that earlier mural.

However, if we look more closely, the face of Sakya Pandita is painted in a style that is much more similar to HAR 15667, with narrow eyes and black irises, less curved eyebrows, and a slightly shorter length of his face. Furthermore, his right hand is carefully not painted in front of the red lappet of his hat, just like in HAR 15667, unlike HAR 60349. Furthermore, in this College mural, the monk attendant standing behind Sakya Pandita's left hand is copied from HAR 15667.

This means it is likely that the mural artist saw HAR 15667 and copied it but changed the posture of Sakya Pandita, therefore, likely saw the complete set it was part of, which is now unknown.

Nick Dharmadi 10-2026