A Prajnaparamita manuscript folio, Tibet, 13th century

Beagle Gallery, London, 1990s.

The title is written in Tibetan uchen script, Prajnaparamita in twenty-five thousand lines: Volume one. The imagery depicts four-armed Manjushri on the left and Shadakshari Avalokiteshvara on the right. It is painted in classical Tibetan of the early thirteenth century style. The central cartouche is surrounded by mantra in u-me script. The verso depicts a squatting male human figure drawn in black and red ink with the six power centers (chakra) according to the Kalachakra tradition: the crown chakra (the wheel of great bliss), the brow chakra (wheel of wind), throat chakra (wheel of enjoyment), heart chakra (wheel of phenomena), navel chakra (wheel of production), sex chakra (wheel of preservation of bliss), and accompanying commentary in u-me script.