Two Buddhist elders: sBed-byed (Gopaka), holding a book (above); Mi-phyed (Abheda), holding a reliquary (below). Distemper painting by a Tibetan painter.

Above, the Buddhist Elder Gopaka, Tibetan sBed-byed, "The Concealer", is shown seated in the royal-ease posture, holding a book. According to Waddell, the Elder's Sanskrit name is Guhah which could be connected with Sanskrit guhya 'secret, concealed'. Next to him, an admiring pupil is sitting at his feet. When Gopaka was on earth, his body was from birth covered with ulcers and was therefore always concealed under a cloth. He looked for a cure everywhere in vain but when he met the Buddha at Śrāvasti, the Buddha, after bathing him and dressing him in fresh clothes, told him of the impermanence of the five aggregates constituting a human being: body, feelings, thoughts, impulses and consciousness. Realizing this, sBed-byed became a monk and later an Arhat (Saint). The Buddha then explained that sBed-byed in a past life had been a trader who had given orders for another trader to be whipped and have powdered poison rubbed into his wounds. Because he was later repentant, he was able to become an Arhat in this life. The literal translation of Sanskrit Gopaka is Tibetan Ba-glaṅ-bdag, 'Lord of Cattle', a name less often used than sBed-byed

The Elder below Gopaka is Abheda. In Tibetan he was called Mi- phyed-pa, 'indivisible' because of his unflagging faith; Abheda is his Sanskrit name. He is seated in the royal-ease posture holding a chorten (reliquary). The ends of his throne are formed by cintāṇis, wish-fulfilling gems. Before him there is a goat, a man holding cymbals, and two other musicians. Overhead are four jinas (conquerors)

Abheda was given the chorten or stūpa by the Buddha when he helped him to overcome the evil forces in the land of the yakṣas (disease spirits), presumably with the help of attendants who clashed cymbals and used other noisy musical instruments. As a result of Abheda's teaching to the yakṣas he was liberated from the cycle of rebirth

[Tibet]

1 painting : distemper on linen ; distemper 79 x 48 cm

At the top is the inscription in lantsa script: Oṃ maṇi padme hūṃ hriḥ. At the back of the thanka is a long inscription of incantations in written into the outlines of a stūpa (Tibetan chorten)

L.A. Waddell, information in Sotheby's auction catalogue, 29 November 1920

Marianne Winder, Catalogue of Tibetan manuscripts and xylographs, and catalogue of thankas, banners and other paintings and drawings in the Library of the Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine, London 1989, p. 82, thankas banners and paintings no. 16

Wellcome Collection 47078i