Distemper on cloth. The yogin dressed in a rainbow-patterned dhoti with five lotus roundels depicting the chakra points of the Kundalini, each roundel enclosing a different deity and their consort. The Purusha stands on a lotus in a landscape with the guardians of the directions below, siddhas and adepts at either side, white and golden Vasudhara in the sky above. A sixth flower hovers above his head.

Provenance: From a noted private collection in Geneva, Switzerland.
Condition: Good condition with wear, some creasing, few folds, flaking, minor fading to colors, loose threads, and tiny losses.

Dimensions: Image size 131.5 x 86.5 cm, Size incl. frame 134.5 x 89 cm

The five-petal basal chakra of the Muladhara contains a white four-armed Ganesha and his female aspect, facing each other in an amorous union, followed by a six-petal lotus with a yellow nondual pair, a ten-petal lotus with a red pair, a twelve-petal lotus with a green pair, a sixteen-petal lotus at the throat contains a single nondual figure composed of a green right half (male) and a red left half (female), and the final attainment of the yogin is symbolized in the nondual coupled, contained with a rainbow light just at the top of the head.

The central figure is surrounded by a green mountainous landscape divided by stretches of water and topped by snowy peaks. Flanking the yogin on either side are the pot-bellied Hvashang, an assistant of the Buddha (right), and the Mahasiddha Milarepa (left), in the region of the sky are two manifestations of Vasudhara, each surrounded by various gods and other figures, with winged vidyadharas positioned on each side of the sixth chakra. To the lower half are the Great Adepts: (left to right) Kapalapa, Champaka, Rahula, Kuchipa, followed by the representations of the four Lokapalas: (left to right) Virupaksha, Vaishravana, Virudhaka, and Dhritarashtra, all scattered amidst scenes from the lives of the mahasiddhas.

Set inside an old gilt-lacquered frame behind glass. (2)

The present lot was painted by a Newari artist residing in Tibet and was meant for either Newars living in Lhasa or for export to the Kathmandu Valley. This is particularly evident in the rendition of the overall iconography of the fully developed yogic processes, the face of the Cosmic Purusha, the presence of Vasundhara, winged vidyadharas, and the miniature mustachioed figures on the various chakras, all of which exemplify Newari taste and a familiarity with Newari Buddhist conventions. Even the position of the deities in union in the chakras is in the Newar manner.

Newari Buddhist images of the Cosmic Purusha are relatively rare; he was more popular amongst the Hindu community in the Valley, or amongst the Jains of India. The Purusha presents the Primordial Being from whom the universe was formed. On a microcosmic scale, everyone can become part of the Purusha by following certain mental and physical exercises. Through meditation and yoga, an energy called kundalini will be awakened in one’s body, and is supposed to stream from the lowest to the highest chakra on the top of the head as shown by the body of Purusha. Each flower thus represents a step on the path to spiritual liberation. Upon reaching the highest chakra, Enlightenment is achieved.

Literature comparison:
Compare a closely related painting of the Cosmic Purusha, Nepal, c. 1900, illustrated by Hugo E. Kreijger in Kathmandu Valley Painting, The Jucker Collection, Boston, 1999, p. 100, no. 37, sold at Sotheby’s New York, 1 January 2006, lot 45. Compare a closely related painting of the Cosmic Man with Diagrams of Newar Yogic Six Chakra Transformation, central Tibet, c. 19^th century, in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, accession number M.91.118, illustrated by John C. Huntington and Dina Bangdel, The Circle of Bliss: Buddhist Meditational Art, Chicago, 2003, p. 232, no. 63. Compare a closely related painting in the John Gilmore Ford Collection, illustrated by Detlef Ingo Lauf, Secret Revelation of Tibetan Thangkas, pp. 164-165, pl. 60.