The Buddhist great adept Virupa

Seated on a deerskin, his paunch barely contained by his yoga strap, the great adept Virupa leans back at his ease. His wide-eyed smile is justified; Virupa, whose name translates as “Mr. Repulsive,” has just attained enlightenment and is now enjoying his freedom. Recently, he had been chief abbot at the great north Indian monastery of Nalanda. Now, however, he has resigned and is at last free of his institutional obligations.

In this sculpture, we join Virupa at a tavern, drinking prodigious amounts of alcohol. The nervous innkeeper has asked for payment, and Virupa promises to pay his bar tab as soon as the sun sets. But here, Virupa uses his magic powers (siddhi) to freeze the sun in the sky so that he might continue to fill his skull bowl—now missing from Virupa’s right hand—indefinitely. The Tibetan Sakya lineage counts Virupa as their founding Indian master.