Item: Item No. 9982

Ngagwang Lobzang Gyatso, the 5th Dalai Lama (1617-1682) surrounded by various scholars primarily of the Tibetan medical traditions.

Video: HAR #9982 (HAR on Patreon [7 min.])

Dalai Lama Biographical Details

At the top left and right are Padmasambhava and Vairotsana. At the far upper right is the 2nd Yutog Yontan Gonpo (1126-1202) with two figures descending below. At the far left side is Draba Ngonshe (1012–1090) the discoverer of the Four Medical Tantras. Below that is Yutog the Elder with another unidentified figure below. Two small attendant monks are kneeling at the corners of the throne in the foreground.

There are name inscriptions for each figure in the composition except for the central image of the 5th Dalai Lama. (Full name inscriptions will be added in due course). A verse praise in the long cartouche at the bottom mentions the Dalai Lama as 'Khyentse Tamche.' The composition of the painting is very reminiscent of the Blue Beryl Medical Paintings created under the guidance of Desi Sanggye Gyatso (1653-1705).

The composition is created in a proper 17th century Manlha Dondrub Mantangpa painting style likely under the supervision of the Desi Sanggye Gyatso while the 5th Dalai Lama was still on the throne. It is very rare indeed to find true Manlha Dondrub style paintings in the mid 17th century when younger artists of the time have started to create their own innovations and changes. It is possible that the composition belonged to a larger supplementary set of lineage teachers that supported the eighty-five paintings depicting the Four Medical Tantras known as the Blue Beryl. The name of the artist is currently unknown but will likely be located in the collected writings of the Desi Sanggye Gyatso among the lists of recorded publications and artistic commissions.

Ngagwang Lobzang Gyatso (1617-1682), the Great Fifth Dalai Lama, was born in 1617 in Chongye, south of Lhasa. He is the first of the Dalai Lamas to have a significant influence on the Tibetan people. He united the three provinces of Kham, Amdo and Utsang under his leadership and government (Ganden Podrang). The Great Fifth was both a scholar and statesman. During his time the relationship between Tibet and its neighbors, India, China and Mongolia flourished. Another achievement by Ngagwang Lobzang Gyatso, and his regent Desi Sanggye Gyatso, was the construction of the Potala Palace. As the principal home of the Dalai Lamas and the largest structure in Tibet, the Potala Palace stands today as the icon of Tibet.

It was the 5th Dalai Lama, also known as the Great 5th, Ngagwang Lobzang Gyatso (1617-1682) that unified Tibet once again and established the Ganden Podrang Government. The successive Dalai Lamas have been the acting or nominal Heads of State since the time of the Great 5th. Depictions of the Dalai Lamas can be recognized by the iconographic characteristics of a white lotus flower held in the right hand and a yellow Pandita hat. The yellow hat is an attribute also shared with Tsongkhapa, the founder of the Gelug Tradition, and with other Gelug teachers that followed. The white lotus flower is the principal attribute of the bodhisattva Lokeshvara. (The last two paragraphs have been copied from other pages on the HAR website).

Jeff Watt, 9-2025