A thangka depicting Maravijaya Buddha, West Tibet, 14th century

The Buddha is depicted reaching forward with his right hand in bhumisparsha mudra indicating his triumph over the demon Mara. He is seated in vajraparyankasana on a lion throne, with elephant, viyala and makara in the prabha behind and a kirtimukha mask at the apex. Two bodhisattvas stand at either side of the throne, with Buddhas, deities and monks above. Emblems of the chakravartin are depicted in the lower register, flanked by members of a donor family.

The style of the thangka relates to works from western Tibet, Spiti and Ladakh painted in the Nepalese manner and dating from around the twelfth to the fourteenth century. Compare the thrones, bodhisattvas and the flowers over the Buddha’s ears to thangkas and wall paintings from Tabo to Tholing illustrated in Deborah Klimburg-Salter, “A Thangka Painting Tradition from the Spiti Valley”, in Orientations, Hong Kong, November 1997, pp. 40-47, figs. 1, 5.