# Nagarjuna (c. 150–250 CE) with a Buddhist Master

- Date: c. 1300s
- Medium: gum tempera on sized cotton
- Classification: Painting
- Dimensions: Overall: 57.8 x 45.1 cm (22 3/4 x 17 3/4 in.)
- Culture: Nepal
- Credit line: Gift of George P. Bickford
- Museum: [Cleveland Museum of Art](https://clevelandart.org/art/1985.186)
- Rights: [Public domain (CC0)](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)
- Picture: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1985.186/1985.186_web.jpg
- Who can see it: Tweens profiles and older (museums give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the museum's own words)

Nagarjuna, the Buddhist philosopher from southern India, sits on his eponymous red and black serpents, or naga. His interlocutor may be his disciple Aryadeva. A volume of the Perfection of Wisdom, honored with flowers, is on a golden bookstand between their heads. The figures sit beneath flowering and fruiting trees with peacocks and parrots, evoking the landscape of India. Lineage masters of the Sakya order of Buddhism are aligned in the top row, beginning with Virupa at the upper right. The monk who was the donor of this painting is in the lower left corner.