Thangka
Samding Dorje Phagmo New branches: Tantric techniques: Fourfold division: Twofold division: Thought forms and visualisation: Yoga: A thangka (Nepali pronunciation: [ˈt̪ʰaŋka]; Tibetan: ཐང་ཀ་; Nepal Bhasa: पौभा) is a Tibetan Buddhist painting on cotton, silk appliqué, usually depicting a Buddhist deity, scene, or mandala.
Thangkas are traditionally kept unframed and rolled up when not on display, mounted on a textile backing somewhat in the style of Chinese scroll paintings, with a further silk cover on the front.
So treated, thangkas can last a long time, but because of their delicate nature, they have to be kept in dry places where moisture will not affect the quality of the silk.
Most thangkas are relatively small, comparable in size to a Western half-length portrait, but some are extremely large, several metres in each dimension; these were designed to be displayed, typically for very brief periods on a monastery wall, as part of religious festivals.
Thangka serve as important teaching tools depicting the life of the Buddha, various influential lamas and other deities and bodhisattvas.
Today, printed reproductions at poster size of painted thangka are commonly used for devotional as well as decorative purposes.
The early history of the form is more easily traced through these murals, which survive in greater numbers than the portable paintings which certainly once existed.
[5] The earliest surviving Tibetan paintings on cloth are from the Mogao Caves at Dunhuang on the Silk Road in Gansu province, China.
In the example at left the flanking bodhisattvas are in a style, one of several found in such figures in this period, that appears derived from central Indian art.
[10][11] According to Giuseppe Tucci, by the time of the Qing dynasty, "a new Tibetan art was then developed, which in a certain sense was a provincial echo of the Chinese 18th century's smooth ornate preciosity.
Raigō-zu developed as one popular genre, showing the Amida Buddha accompanied by bodhisattvas welcoming the souls of the faithful to his Western Paradise.
These were mostly produced in sets and were usually used in earlier stages of training monks, or as initiation cards or offerings, or to use when constructing temporary mandalas.
In Western terminology, this is a distemper technique; although it is often described as a form of gouache, this is incorrect, and the paint was applied as a warm liquid, mixed shortly before application.
The precise measurements and proportions used in creating Thangkas are based on ancient mathematical and philosophical concepts, such as the golden ratio and mandala symbolism.
Many Thangka painting schools and cooperatives provide training and employment opportunities for local artists, particularly in rural areas.
By supporting Thangka art, buyers contribute to the preservation of Tibetan culture and the livelihoods of Himalayan communities.
Arms, legs, eyes, nostrils, ears, and various ritual implements are all laid out on a systematic grid of angles and intersecting lines.
A skilled thangka artist will generally select from a variety of predesigned items to include in the composition, ranging from alms bowls and animals, to the shape, size, and angle of a figure's eyes, nose, and lips.
Art objects, therefore, must follow rules specified in the Buddhist scriptures regarding proportions, shape, color, stance, hand positions, and attributes in order to personify correctly the Buddha or Deities.
[16] The earliest surviving thangka paintings from Nepal date to about the 14th century AD, but this is probably well after Buddhists and Hindus began to make illustrations of the deities and natural scenes.
Astasahas rika Prajnaparamita for example, was copied in Patan in the year 999 AD., during the reign of Narendra Dev and Udaya Deva, for the Sa-Shakya monastery in Tibet.
Mahakala, Manjushri, Lokeshvara and other deities were equally popular and so were also frequently represented in thangka paintings of later dates.
As Tantrism embodies the ideas of esoteric power, magic forces, and a great variety of symbols, strong emphasis is laid on the female element and sexuality in the paintings of that period.
Realizing the great demand for religious icons in Tibet, these artists, along with monks and traders, took with them from Nepal not only metal sculptures but also a number of Buddhist manuscripts.
One of the earliest specimens of Nepalese Thangka painting dates from the thirteenth /fourteenth century and shows Amitabha surrounded by bodhisattva.
Although the practice of thanka painting was originally done as a way of gaining merit it has nowadays evolved into a commercial business and the noble intentions it once carried has been diluted.
Besides Lamas, Gurung and Tamang communities are also producing Tankas, which provide substantial employment opportunities for many people in the hills.
