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  The central figure is the Buddha, Sakyamuni. At his side stand the disciples Sariputra and Maudgalyayana. Two of the sixteen arhats are depicted as well: Arganja in the upper-right-hand corner and Cudapanthaka in the upper-left-hand corner. To the right of the Buddha is Dharmatala, "protector of the arhats"; to the left is Hva-sang, "host of the arhats." The task of the arhats, disciples of the Buddha, is to spread the Buddhist teachings in all four directions.

  In this thang-ka Amitabha, the Buddha of Infinite Light, presides over the Sukhavati or Western Paradise. He is attended by the Bodhisattvas, Maitrey and Manjusri and is surrounded by ten Buddhas, each with his own palace. The lotus pedestal on which he sits grows from a pool at the bottom center of the painting. In the center of the lotus buds are the faces of those being born into paradise.

17461 (K584)
Vairocana
Acquired: Po Monastery in Spiti

  The Buddha Vairocana is the central figure, seated on a lion throne. He is flanked by two Bodhisattvas and surrounded by multiple images of the Buddhas forming diagonal patterns in different colors.
  This would seem to be a local version of the figural style of western Tibet and may well be a thirteenth-century piece.

17458 (K569)
Tara
Acquired: Likir Monastery in Ladakh

  thang-ka depicting the goddess Tara in the two eye form found mainly in India. She is surrounded by twenty smaller Taras holding the symbol of eternal life, an amrta vase. The iconography seems to be drawn from the eleventh-century version of a hymn to Tara composed by Atisa in which the 21 forms of the goddess are described.
   Below the central Tara are images which represent the eight dreads: suspicion, passion, avarice, envy, false religious doctrines, anger, mental darkness and pride. Also in the lower quater is the dharmapala and god of wealth, Kubera.
   Based on the evidence of the wall paintings at Basgo, it would seem that this thang-ka is a local product of the early seventeenth century.

  The central figure of the thang-ka is Bhaisajyaguru (Man-la), the Medicine Buddha. He holds a fruit of the myrobala plant, emblem of healing, in his right hand and a bowl of the same fruit in his left hand. Two disciples, Chandragupta with the moon above him, and Suryagupta with the sun above him, stand on either side.
   A comparison with wall paintings at Chang leads to the conclusion that this is a Ladakhi painting.

17457 (K468)
Amitayus
Acquired: Likir Manastery in Ladakh

  The main figure of the thang-ka is Amitayus, the Buddha of Eternal Life. He sits in a meditative pose, holds the amrta vase, symbol of eternal life, and is surrounded by thirty-five smaller images of the same figure. The Bodhisattvas who stand in attendance are Avalokisevra on the left and Mahastamaprapta on the right.
   Eight lotuses are depicted in the scrollwork on the decorated robe flowing accross the knees. These contain the eight glorious emblems of Buddhism. On the left we find: the white parasol which keeps away the heat of evil desires; the lotus, pledge of salvation and a symbol of divine origin; the amrta vase; and the two fish, symbols of happiness and utility. On the right we find: the cakra, or wheel, whose eight spokes symbolize the eight fold path; the victorious banner, or standard, erected on the summit of Mount Meru; the endless knot, symbol of the endless cycle of rebirths; and the conch shell, symbol of the blessedness of turning to the right.
   The similarities between this painting and the Tara painting (#17458) are great enough to allow us to conclude that they are created by the same artist. A comparison with the wall paintings at Basgo leads to the conclusion that the thang-ka was probably produced in Ladakh in the early seventeenth century.

17463 (K585)
Lhamo
Acquired: Likir Monastery in Ladakh

  The central figure here is Paldan Lhamo (Dpal-ldan Lha-mo), protectress of religion. She is one of the eight terrible ones, the dharmalapas. In this four-armed manifestation she holds a chopper and skull cap in her lower hands and brandishes a sword and victory staff, adorned with the flayed skin of a human, above. Her mule is led through a sea of flames by the makara-headed dakini, Makaravaktra. The lion-headed dakini, Simhavaktra, follows behind. Lhamo wears the golden sun in her navel; the crescent moon adorned with peacock feather rests in her hair. Flayed human skin serves as her shawl and freshly severed human heads spurting blood girdle her hips. Her mule is bridled and trimmed with snakes and from these trappings hang her bag full of diseases, a pair of dice, and a ball of magic thread. The mule is covered by flayed skin of Lhamo's son.

17466 (K581)
Torma Offering for a Wrathful Dharmapala
Acquired: Likir Monastery in Ladakh

  The central figure of this thang-ka is a torma (gtor-ma), or offering shaped from dough, decorated with butter, and pierced by a divination arrow. A torma for a wrathful deity generally has straight sharp edges decorated with flame patterns. The triangular shape is most common, usually pierced by sword or an arrow, and often tinted with either red coloring or the coloring of the god to whom it is being offered.
   This offering is set against a black background common to dharmapala paintings. The background is strewn with severed limbs and inhabited by wild beasts. From the upper margin of the painting hang the flayed skins of two men interspersed with garlands of freshly-severed heads and laced together with snakes and intestines from which dangle plucked hearts.
   Across the bottom of the painting are the eight auspicious emblems. On either side are banners above skull caps pierced by streaming arrows. The cup to the right holds the symbols of the five senses surmounted by a heart and surrounded by blood. The cup to the left holds a heart either in water or alcohol.
   The central subject seems to be an unusual one.

17455
Pektse
Acquired: Labrang Monastery in Kunawar

17462 (K580)
Four Figures
Acquired: Ladahk

  The four main figures of this thang-ka, clockwise from upper left, are Bhaisajyaguru, Manjusri, Tara, and Aryavalokitesvara.
   Bhaisajyaguru (Man-la), the Medicine Buddha, holds the Golden myrobalan, symbol of healing, in his right hand.
   Manjusri is seated in dharmacakra-mudra. There is a book resting on the lotus at his left shoulder and a sword on the lotus at his right. Manjusri is said to have been of human origin sometime before 300 A.D. when he brought civilization from China to Nepal.
   The semi-wrathful form of Tara holds the visvavajra (crossed vajra) in her right hand and an upturned ghanta, or bell, in her left. In this form she usually represents a directional Tara of the north.
   This Avalokitesvara has eleven heads and a thousand arms with an eye in the palm of each hand representing his all-seeing mercy.
   This is one of two thang-kas in the collection which are actually composed of four individual thang-kas in one painting. The scrollwork and layout of figures point to a west Tibetan style.

  Vajrabhairava is a form of Yamantaka, conqueror of Yama, the god of death. In this depiction he has nine heads, thirty-four arms, and sixteen legs. As legend records, a hermit who had been meditating in a cave for nearly fifty years was an accidental witness to the slaughtering of a yak by thieves. The thieves beheaded him, thus preventing him from finally attaining enlightenment and in revenge the hermit put on the head of the yak and killed the thieves. Unfortunately, his appetite for revenge grew out of bounds and as death, Yama, swept through the valley, the villagers called on Manjusri to save them. This he did in the form of Yamantaka.
   The scroll work and figural style indicate a west Tibetan origin.

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