Gurunatha (Abhinavagupta and the Lineage of Kashmir Shaiva Masters)
2026 update
Gurunatha has returned to the studio once again. I added two more important masters of the Kashmir Shaiva lineage, Utpaladeva and Śambhunātha, along with Śambhunātha's wife, and reworked some of the mountains and clouds.
You can see the newly finished painting and read the story of how it came back into the studio here.
Earlier update
I updated the painting of Abhinavagupta by adding a shawl to his torso instead of depicting him bare-chested. Here he is with the rest of the lineage of Kashmir Shaiva masters (Gurunatha), with his chief disciples Kshemaraja and Yogaraja at his feet, and Swami Ram, Swami Lakshmanjoo, and Swami Mahatabkak in the foreground.
Available in small print sizes with frames and or mats and other variations (up to 16x16 inch), and fine art archival print (20x20, 24x24) from my store.
The original idea for the painting came from an ancient description of Abhinavagupta translated by K. C. Pandey in his book “Abhinavagupta – An Historical & Philosophical Study”.
“May the glorious Dakshinamurti in the form of Abhinava, who is an incarnation of Shrikantha (Lord Shiva) and has come to Kashmir out of deep compassion, protect us.
His eyes are rolling with spiritual bliss. The center of his forehead is clearly marked with three lines made with ashes. His ears look beautiful with Rudraksha. His hair is tied with a garland of flowers. His beard is long, and his body rosy. His neck, black because of its being besmeared with paste of camphor, musk, sandal and saffron etc. looks splendid. His long sacred thread is left loose. He is dressed in silk-cloth, white like the rays of the moon.
In the yogic posture called vira, he is sitting on a soft cushion over a throne of gold with a canopy decked with strings of pearls, in an open hall full of crystals, beautiful with paintings, smelling extremely sweet on account of garlands of flowers, incense and lamps, perfumed with sandal etc., constantly resonant with both vocal and instrumental music and dance and crowded with female ascetics and saints of recognized spiritual power, Abhinavagupta sits resplendent in the center of a garden of grapes.
He is attended by all his pupils, such as Kshemaraja etc., who are sitting at his feet with their minds concentrated, writing down all that he says. His two female attendants (Dutis) are standing at His sides, each with a jar full of water distilled from grain kept soaked in water for three nights. They have a box full of betels (tambula) in their right hand, and a fruit of citron and a lotus in their left.
His right hand is wearing a rosary of Rudraksha, and his fingers are in the position indicative of the grasp of the Ultimate Reality. With the tip of the nail of his lotus like left hand he is playing on the vina, which is capable of producing the original musical sound (nada).”
I found an old image/illustration online and it inspired me for the design, so I digitally altered it in Photoshop to include the latest three generations of Lineage of Kashmir Shaiva Masters (going backward from my spiritual teacher Swami Lakshmanjoo to his master Swami Mahatabhkak and his guru Swami Ram) into it to create a reference for my painting. See the process below...
You can read more about Abhinavagupta here.
The original painting lives at the Lakshmanjoo Academy Center.