In 1726 Situ painted one of his most striking and highly appreciated sets of paintings, the Eight Great Tantric Adepts (Mahasiddhas). It is the first set that Situ is recorded to have painted and marks the beginning of his public life as an artistic and religious leader. He offered this set of paintings to the king of Derge as he formally requested permission to build a new monastery at Palpung.

Situ reported in his autobiography that he painted this set “in a manner like the Encampment style” and did the sketching, coloring, and shading himself. Situ’s depictions of these eight great adepts have been variously arranged and combined in nine-painting, five-painting, and three-painting sets, as well as in single paintings.