This thangka depicts Atisa in the center wearing a "pandit hat" and surrounded by scenes showing episodes from his life, each of which has a caption written in gold letters. According th the captions, these scenes show how, after he had been invited by King Byang-chub-'od of Western Tibet, Atisa met 'Brom-ston, was invited to visit Central Tibet, and then travelled throughout Central Tibet.
This is so-called "red thangka"(dmar thang), having been painted on a red background, and it has special value in that not many thangkas illustrating Atisa's life are known to exist.