Folio from a Gyalpo Kachem Manuscript (Primary Title)
Two Folios from a Gyalpo Kachem Manuscript (Former Title)
Unknown (Artist)
These folios' sophisticated calligraphy and refined illuminations suggest that they came from a manuscript that an important monastery or patron commissioned. The text written on these large paper pages comes from the "Gyalpo Kachem" ("Will and Testament of the King"), a text tradition says an eminent teacher hid during the early years of Tibetan Buddhism and a worthy person recovered centuries later, fulfilling predictions. Songtsen Gambo is supposed to have written the "Gyalpo Kachem" in the seventh century, while Atisha "discovered" it in the eleventh. (Dye, "Mystic Visions" label, 7/92)
Zimmerman Family Collection, Arthur and Margaret Glasgow Fund
Image released via Creative Commons CC-BY-NC
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