The guardian Hvashang and the guardian kings Virudhaka and Dhritarashtra

At the center of this painting sits the arhat Hvashang, whose name translates literally as “Chinese monk.” Like the other arhats, he is a historic figure. Unlike them, however, he was anachronistically sent by a seventh-century Tang emperor to invite the Buddha Shakyamuni to China. But since the Buddha had already been deceased for a thousand years, Hvashang’s invitation was instead answered by sixteen arhats, who rose from the sea at his behest, and in defiance of time. In China, Hvashang thus became the seventeenth arhat, and their de facto patron. Since then, almost all Himalayan arhat painting sets have included the patron Hvashang, whose iconographic features include his portly size, bead mala (string of prayer beads), and bald head. Beneath Hvashang left to right are Virudhaka, blue and bearing a sword, and Dhritarashtra, who strums his telltale lute.