On loan to The Met The Met accepts temporary loans of art both for short-term exhibitions and for long-term display in its galleries.
Hevajra with the Footprints of the Kagyu Patriarch Tashipel
The master Tashipel (1142–1210) impressed his footprints onto a piece of silk that, in turn, was affixed to this painting, giving it great power. This practice followed a long relic tradition going back to traces of the Buddha’s footprints. A student would have requested the footprints, which were then juxtaposed with the Vajrayana deity Hevajra. In this guru yoga practice, the teacher and deity are an interchangeable focus for tantric practice. Surviving north Indian Pala motifs, such as in the jewelry and stance of Hevajra, support an early date for this work, as does the fact that Tashipel was alive, serving as the first abbot of Taklung monastery, when the footprints were made.
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