About Virupa

Virupa was the great 7th-century Mahasiddha who brought people onto the Buddhist path through his miraculous deeds. Born into an Indian royal family, Virupa, also known as Birwapa or Biwawa, was the abbot of the renowned Nalanda Monastery. He was a great practitioner of the Chakrasamvara Tantras and whenever he engaged in tantric rituals like tsog, dakinis would enter his chambers to partake of the offerings. However, the other monks perceived them to be ordinary women and so Virupa was expelled from the monastery because they thought that he had consorted with women.

Thereafter, Virupa roamed India as a dishevelled yogin and performed many miracles to subdue people’s minds and bring them onto the Buddhist path. His most famous miracle was when he created the illusion of stopping the sun with a simple hand gesture. He did that seemingly because he promised to pay the amount of beer he drank at a tavern at sundown. Since the sun never set, he didn’t need to settle the bill and the sun remained in the sky for days. Finally, the king along with his ministers begged Virupa to release the sun and eventually became his most ardent disciples. Another of his renowned disciples was the Mahasiddha Dombi Heruka.

Virupa’s Vajra Verses became the basis for the Lamdre teachings of the Sakya School of Tibetan Buddhism. He is considered one of the earliest lineage masters of the Sakya School and an earlier incarnation of Dorje Shugden.

Further Reading

• Virupa – Lord of Miracles
• The Great Mystic Virupa
• 84 Mahasiddhas

• Material: Copper, gold plated
• Height: 250 mm (9.8-in)
• Width: 230 mm (9.1-in)
• Depth: 180 mm (7.1-in)
• Weight: 3.4 kg (7.6 lb)