Provenance:
Collection of Gursharan and Elvira Sidhu
Published:
Jane Casey Singer, “Early Thangkas: Eleventh-Thirteenth Centuries,” in Pratapaditya Pal ed., On The Path to Void: Buddhist Art of the Tibetan Realm, Mumbai, 1996, p. 194, pl. 12
David P. Jackson, Mirror of the Buddha, Early Portraits from Tibet, Rubin Museum exhibition catalogue, New York, 2011, fig. 4.16
Jane Casey, Taklung Painting, A Study in Chronology, Volume I, Serindia Publications, Chicago, 2023, cat. no. 78
This thangka depicts as its main subject the ninth master in the Taklung lineage, Kuyalwa. The structure of the painting portrays three separate lineages, which together constituted the two main rivers or currents (chu bo) of the Dakpo Kagyu. Of the three lineages, one is on the left and begins with Vajradhara. The two remaining lineages are on the right, and each begins with Buddha Sakyamuni as their primordial guru. Sakyamuni is shown in the top row, to the right of Vajradhara. Both lineages on the right also share the gurus Atisa and Dromton.
The patron of this painting must have belonged to Sanggye Yarjon's generation (whose abbatial tenure was from 1236 to 1272), and thus the lineage as it stands most likely dates to at least the mid-thirteenth century.
Kuyalwa was said to be a great teacher, capable of meeting the needs of a large variety of disciples, and he was known for his foreknowledge and his miraculous cures of the blind and deaf. He adhered very closely to the teachings and practices that had been instituted by the founder of the monastery. He kept for himself the extra vow of never lying down to sleep, and He was very generous in giving alms of grain to the poor. If people made offerings of weapons, he would immediately have them broken into pieces. As his death approached it is said that there were a number of unusual natural signs, such as light rays, curious sounds, rainbows, and earthquakes.
