A THANGKA DEPICTING MYSTIC MASTER HUMKARA TIBET, CIRCA 1600 |

the master adorned with bone jewellery and a flower garland crown, black hair drawn up through a triratna symbol topped with a sun and crescent moon, wearing a pink dhoti and flowing green scarf, holding vajra and kapala and seated on an antelope skin placed on a rocky outcrop within a charnel ground, a stupa and a tree with Ganapati in the branches to the right, Namkay Nyingpo wearing a pandita cap seated on a yellow cushion beneath, with deities in yab-yum seated on a recumbent Ganapati, and nagaraja emerging from waters below with a dancing blue attendant deity Himalayan Art Resources item no. 19843.

“Himalayas: An Aesthetic Adventure”, The Art Institute of Chicago, 5 April-17 August 2003; and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institute, Washington, D.C., 18 October 2003-11 January 2004.

Pratapaditya Pal, Himalayas: An Aesthetic Adventure, Chicago, 2003, cat. no. 172.

In good original condition. Horizontal cracks and stains through the clouds, tree above and encroaching on central figure. Minor rubbing overall. Some wear to inscription beneath the clouds. Losses and stains to the elephant vihana below. Horizontal cracks to blue deity beneath and inscription next to stupa on right side. The principal figure in very good condition with minor losses to the scarf. The silk mount original and in fair condition. The painted roller beneath in good condition. The reverse showing stains and accretion.
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A dedicatory inscription in gold along the lower edge of this rare and unusual thangka is a eulogy to the master Vajrahumkara by the donor Drag Palde. The Tibetan inscription may be translated as follows:  "Through meditating on the glorious pure body of realization [of Vajrahumkara], Drag Palde transformed hatred by the pure mirror of wisdom. Praise to the strength of exceptional spiritual accomplishments by the yogi Drag Palde. who received the thoughts and knowledge of the knowledge-holder Vajrahumkara." 

According to the Nyingma tradition, Humkara was a Dzogchen lineage holder who was born in Nepal and a contemporary of the eighth-century saint Padmasambhava, see Pratapaditya Pal, Himalayas: An Aesthetic Adventure, Chicago, 2003, p. 260.

The charnel field to the left of Humkara is identified by inscription as Silway Tsal, one of the Eight Cremation Grounds, and a further inscription identifies the pandita below as Namkay Nyingpo, one of the twenty-five disciples of Padmasambhava who is said to have meditated in the Silway Tsal cemetery, see Amy Heller, “The Tibetan Inscriptions: Dedications, History, and Prayers” in ibid., p. 294. The reverse of the painting is inscribed with a series of mantra and the Buddhist Creed within a stupa, followed by a ritual description of Humkara as he appears on the front of the painting, seated on an animal skin and holding the vajra and kapala. The dedication includes a prayer that the practitioner may achieve spiritual union with Humkara, written in verse that reads as if Humkara is the practitioner’s actual teacher, ibid.. The verses conclude with an excerpt from the Pratimoksa sutra and a request for blessings.