In the austere appearance of a mahasiddha he is yellow in colour with long black hair, some tied as a topknot crowned with a gold half vajra and some loose. The right hand holds upright a katvanga staff adorned with rings, skulls and streamers. The left hand placed across the knee performs a mudra with the index finger extended - issuing forth rays of the sun (surya prabha)removing the darkness of ignorance. Adorned with a skull crown, bone earrings, necklace, bracelets and the like he wears an orange scarf, red meditation belt and a skirt of tiger skin; seated on a deer skin and mat of leaves in a relaxed posture. A beautiful dakini stands in front along with a bowl of fruit to the side. To the left is a mendicant's bag and behind a caitya, reliquary structure. At the forefront is a charnel ground scene with wild animals devouring corpses.

At the top center is the guru Acarya Nagarjuna (Tib.: lu drup nying po) holding a damaru and skull. He taught the system of Hayagriva to Padmasambhava. At the right is a monk flying above the clouds. At the middle right is Khye'u Kha Ding Chung Lotsawa, wearing the garments of a layman and communicating with a bird perched on the left hand. At the bottom left is Drogmi Palgyi Yeshe. Attired as a layman he holds a kila (ritual peg) and bell subduing a negative spirit below. These two are from the famous set of 25 main students of Guru Rinpoche. At the right is Yudra Nyingpo wearing the robes of a monk and a red pandita hat holding a book in the left hand; the principal student of Maha Pandita Vairocana.

Surya Prabha represents the period of time when Padmasambhava remained for 5 years in a charnel ground in the Indian kingdom of Baiddha teaching to the dakinis. At this time he also defeated the Tirthakas and transmuted poison he had ingested and proceeded to display various miracles. The drawing of the painting is based on a set of Derge xylograph prints from Kham, Tibet, 19th century.

Jeff Watt 10-98