AN IMPORTANT MANDALA DEPICTING GREEN TARA AND AMOGHASIDDHI AND THE 10TH AND 15TH ABBOTS OF NGOR

AN IMPORTANT MANDALA DEPICTING GREEN TARA AND AMOGHASIDDHI AND THE 10TH AND 15TH ABBOTS OF NGOR MONASTRY
CENTRAL TIBET 17TH CENTURY, NGOR MONASTERY TRADITION

This rare mandala having Tibetan inscriptions written in gold ink below the top and bottom bands of deities and Lamas, identifying many of the figures.

Painted with two Ngor monastery Abbot portraits of Konchok Lhundrub (dkon mchog lhun grub - 1497-1557), the 10th Abbot, lower left with script translated as 'Homage to the Precious (Lama) Konchog Lhungrub'; and Kunga Sonam Llungrub (kun dga’ bsod nams lhun grub - 1603-1618), the 15th Abbot, lower right, with script translated as ‘Hail to the religious teacher Kunga Lhungrub ’. Further painted and inscribed top left with Reverend Tara, and the Indian Buddhist teachers Ravigupta and Atisha (in sanskrit Candragarbha); with the three Great Red Deities of the Sakya tradition, Kamaraja, Kurukulla and Ganapati (Ganesha) adjacent to the 10th Abbot lower left. These three Deities personify three forms of action: physical, mental and verbal. The mantra 'Om Ah Hum' written many times towards the centre to the reverse, 50cm x 37cm, 83cm x 54cm overall.

Provenance: from the collection of Norman Blount (1875-1930). Norman Blount was a jute broker, as well as the joint secretary (with the artist Abanindranath Tagore) of the Indian Society of Oriental Art, which was founded in 1907 in Calcutta, with Lord Kitchener the Society’s President.

The design of this thangka is closely related to a 16th Century thangka ‘17 Deity Tara Mandala’ based on the tradition of Ravigupta. From a private collection and published online - see Himalayan At Resources
(https://www.himalayanart.org/items/12415:)

Konchok Lhundrub was born at Sakya monastery. His mother was the niece of Ngorchen Kunga Zangpo, the first abbot of Ngor monastery. From the age of thirteen he took novice vows, receiving esoteric teachings of the Eighth and Ninth abbots of Ngor from the age of 20. He was enthroned as the 10th abbot at the age of 38 and served from 1534-1557, recorded as excelling in teaching, debate and writing, demonstrating the classic Buddhist qualities of being learned, virtuous and noble. He had disciples in many distant regions, including Kham, Amdo, U, and Ngari. He did not stay full time at Ngor but travelled to Nalendria and other monasteries to teach. Konchok Lhundrub is remembered as one of the most accomplished and prestigious Ngor abbots, comparable in reputation to Ngor's founder Kunga Zangpo.

Kunga Sonam Lhungrub was the eldest of three sons born into a prestigious Sakya family. At the age of nine he went with his father to Ngor monastery where he took monastic views with the twelth abbot of Ngor, Konchok Pelden who gave him his new monastic name Kunga Sonam Lhungrub. in 1594, the abbot of the Sakya monastery of Nalendra selected him to take over the duties of abbot at this monastery. On the passing of the fourteenth abbot of Ngor in 1603 he was installed as his successor and became one of the most important Sakya teachers of his time. During his tenure lasting until 1618 Kunga Sonam Lhungrub commissioned several famous works of art. He passed away in 1642 at the age of seventy two.

The Sakya monastery was established in Central Tibet in 1073, with the Ngor Monastery a sub school of the Sakya order established in 1429. Ravigupta is connected with the ancient Buddhist philosophical school of Abhidhamma, a Buddhist teaching that systematically describes the world order, primarily as phenomena of consciousness and nature. Ravigupta is the 12th teacher in the lineage of the school of Abhidharma, which starts with the Buddha Shakyamuni himself. Candragarbha born into the royal family of the Kingdom of Zahor (now Bangladesh) in 982, had a vision of the goddess Tara in childhood and under her influence travelled to another country in search of ta teacher, later in his life he became known as Atishs and 1042 travelled to Tibet where he revived Buddhism.

十七世紀 西藏綠度母及不空成就佛雙修壇城唐卡
來源：諾曼·布朗特（1875-1930）收藏。諾曼布朗特曾是一個黃麻經銷商，與藝術家泰戈爾一起擔任了印度東方藝術協會的聯合秘書（1907年於加爾各答成立），而霍雷肖•赫伯特•基奇納元帥(1850-1916)為協會主席。