The origin of the Dalai Lama — Sonan Gyatso Thangka

[Origin of the Dalai Lama – Sonan Gyatso Thangka]

Origin of the Dalai Lama – Sonan Gyatso Thangka, 18th century, Tibet, cloth, color, 140 cm long, 73 cm wide, 72 cm vertical and 46 cm horizontal. The old collection of the Qing Palace
The third Dalai Lama Sonan Gyatso (1543-1588), who was the reincarnation of the second Dalai Lama Dun Gyatso in the 25th year of Jiajing in the Ming Dynasty (1546), was welcomed to the Drepung Monastery for support, and later served as the head of the Drepung Monastery and Sera Monastery. In 1578, in the sixth year of the Wanli reign of the Ming Dynasty (1578), the Mongolian Anda Khan invited Sonan Gyatso to preach the Dharma in Mongolia and gave him the title of “Sagittarius Vazildara Dalai Lama” (meaning the supreme accomplished and extraordinary marine division). From then on, Sonan Gyatso’s reincarnation system began to have the name of the Dalai Lama
In the middle of the Thangka, Sonan Gyatso held the bell and pestle with both hands, and sat on the throne of the dragon head with folded hands. The temples in the background may be the Kumbum Monastery (top) and Litang Temple (bottom) built under his auspices. The upper left corner of the picture shows the image of his guru Gelebasan, the upper right corner shows the secret Vajra image of his practicing Buddha, and the lower left corner shows the God of War, the Red Yan Buddha, and Anda Khan. This Thangka is rich in color and has clear layers
There is a white silk label on the back of the Thangka, and the inscription on it is written in four-body Chinese, Manchu, Mongolian and Tibetan. The Chinese text is: “On the sixth day of March of the 26th year of Qianlong’s reign, the emperor ordered Zhang Jiahu Tuktu to recognize the origin and development of the Dalai Lama in the painting. The fifth from the right”.