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Wikimedia Commons · Public domain · Hover to magnify, click for fullscreen
Original fileTibetan writing detail, Arhat Bakula 17h century, khienri style, Rubin coll. (cropped)
The image is a close-up detail of a dark, teal-green painted surface, likely from a thangka. A single line of gold-colored Tibetan text in the Uchen script is written horizontally across the center. The characters are executed in a delicate, precise hand, typical of the 17th-century Khyenri style.
This inscription serves to identify the figure of Arhat Bakula, one of the sixteen primary disciples of the Buddha in the Tibetan tradition. Such labels are standard in traditional thangka painting to ensure correct ritual identification and veneration of the depicted saint.
བཀུ་ལ་ལ་ཕྱག་འཚལ་ལོ།
Translation
Homage to Bakula.
Sixteen Arhats
The inscription identifies Bakula, who is a member of the group of sixteen legendary arhats tasked with protecting the Dharma.
Object
thangka
silk
17th century
Tibetan
religious
Digital Source
Wikimedia Commons · Public domain
125 × 48 px
Linked Data
AI AI-cataloged fields generated by gemini-3.1-flash-lite-preview on April 20, 2026. Getty identifiers are AI-inferred and may require verification.