elephants and two horses carrying cargo. Below, next to Śāntipa, a traveling trader carries a whole elephant tusk in his arms. He also belongs to the caravan. Thus both Figures 2.13 and 2.14a depict as prominent minor characters foreign traders traveling with white elephants loaded with jewels or cargo, a theme we shall also see below. In fact, the Indian “Ācārya leading an elephant” (Tib. atsara glang ’khrid) became in Tibetan mural painting a common decorative theme related to “The Mongol leading the Tiger” (sog po stag ‘khrid). (See Fig. 2.14b.) Though considered a decorative motif, it had religious symbolism: the elephant stood for elephant-headed Ganeṣa, while the Indian ascetic for Vaiśravaṇa, both gods of wealth. The elephant here carries a load of radiant jewels that fills an ornate wooden box and which is secured like a saddle to the animal’s back. As Figure 2.14c shows, elephants carrying precious objects or carrying a boy on its back were typical Chinese motifs, showing us the origin of the jewel-laden elephant in Figure 2.13. In Chinese art elephants were also typically shown carrying a wish-fulfilling gem or the sacred alms bowl of the Buddha. In China, elephants symbolized strength and astuteness and were a common animal motif.222
Jackson 2005b
Fig. 2.14a Three Great Adepts After: Tshewang Rinchen 2005, thangka no. 5
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clouds. Little Khyentse touches like those prove the ultimate origin of that set. I think the Basel paintings (like Fig. 2.13) were painted in a Drukpa Kagyu monastery in northeast Kham, such as Khampa Gar. Through their Drukpa Kagyu connections in central Tibet, they would have been able to get a Khyentse original or a close copy. Above adept number 10, Tsoramgipa, is an approaching caravan of foreign travelers with their two white
I published a contribution to the Die Welt der tibetischen Buddhismus (The World of Tibetan Buddhism) exhibition catalog for the Museum der Völkerkunde in Hamburg. The English title of my article is “Traces of Tāranātha and his Previous Lives: Paintings from the Jonangpa School of Tibetan Buddhism.” One of the main series of thangkas that I published in black-and-white plates, illustrations 2 through 18, was a set depicting the previous lives of Tāranātha. This major set of Khyenri portraits probably