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His brow furrowed in an intense expression of concentration, he bears the characteristics of an accomplished ascetic. He sits in a yogic pose on an antelope hide draped over a patterned cushion, his right leg supported by a strap. His long matted hair is piled on top of his head in a massive coil and bone ornaments cross his chest. This solid, impressive sculpture once belonged to a set of the Path and Result (Lam ‘bras) lineage portraits of the teachers in the Sakya School lineage.
Kanha
OriginCentral Tibet
Date16th century
Dimensions14 1/8 × 9 7/8 × 8 1/4 in.
MediumCopper alloy
Classification(s)
Credit LineRubin Museum of Art
Object numberC2003.23.4
Himalayan Art Resources Number90822
DescriptionKanha, “The Black One,” one of the most popular of the eighty-four Indian great Tantric adepts (mahasiddha), lived in India around the seventh or eighth century. He was originally a Hindu yogi, but after becoming the primary disciple of the mahasiddha Virupa, Kanha entered a lineage that eventually became foundational to the Sakya tradition, one of the four main schools of Tibetan Buddhism.His brow furrowed in an intense expression of concentration, he bears the characteristics of an accomplished ascetic. He sits in a yogic pose on an antelope hide draped over a patterned cushion, his right leg supported by a strap. His long matted hair is piled on top of his head in a massive coil and bone ornaments cross his chest. This solid, impressive sculpture once belonged to a set of the Path and Result (Lam ‘bras) lineage portraits of the teachers in the Sakya School lineage.
Not on view
ca. 17th century
ca. 1659-1671
16th century
ca. 16th century
16th century
19th century
18th century
16th century
mid-19th century
