/ARTS WEEKLY/NEPAL: Trans-Himalayan ‘Thankas’ Pull in Crowds

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Surendra Phuyal

KATHMANDU, Mar 23 2004 (IPS) - Tenzing Norbu grew up watching and helping his father paint, on plain-white paper and clothes, the life and times of Lord Buddha and other Buddhist deities – against the backdrop of the breathtaking trans-Himalayan landscape.

Today, the 32-year-old who hails from the Tinkyu valley in upper Dolpo area in north-western Nepal is a promising ‘thanka’ artist, painting everything from portraits of Buddha and Buddhist deities to the awe-inspiring vistas of rolling snow-clad mountains under the deep blue sky of the Nepalese-Tibetan rainshadow area.

(Monsoon rain occurs in much of South and East Asia, but skips parts of Tibet and Nepal, thus forming the rainshadow.)

On canvasses, Norbu also paints Tibetan Buddhism’s mythological stories of ‘Milareppa’ and ‘Amittombho’. The sacred, traditional Buddhist paintings, called ‘thankas’ or ‘paubhas’, are originally from Nepal, and they later spread out to what now is the Tibetan Autonomous Region of China on the other side of the Himalayas.

Such art works, created by using stone and natural colours, are considered sacred and spiritual, and even the art of doing so is said to require mediation and Tantric visualisation prowess. Often times, such paintings show a nice-bodied god or goddess sitting on a lotus flower, against the backdrop of deep blue sky with clusters of white clouds and nature.

”When I was little, I would observe my father, Karma, paint the Thankas and other deities,” said Norbu, standing at the exhibit of ‘thankas’ from Dolpo area that started this week at the Shangri-La hotel in the Nepalese capital, Kathmandu.

”Then I started drawing the images of deities on snowfield or dust-field. Later, it occurred to me that I can really make a living by painting thankas,” he said in an interview.

Today, he is a ‘thanka’ artist of international repute. His works have been chronicled in three volumes published in French, and his best work at the ongoing exhibit has been priced at 1,100 U.S.dollars. He has also travelled to Europe and the United States to teach ‘thanka’ painting.

Across the mountains of Nepal and the Tibetan autonomous region of China, there are thousands of traditional artists who are into this sacred art, following age-old spiritual practice. Buddhism – and along with it the ‘thanka’ painting like the one Norbu does – may be enjoying a renaissance in the west.

Yet little is known about the artists who create them.

Things, it seems, are beginning to change. This past week, Nepal’s National Association of Fine Arts (NAFA) put together a national-level exhibition of ‘thankas’, showcasing over 100 traditional and spiritual paintings done by 84 artists from around the country.

The ongoing exhibit, first of its kind, has it all: the ‘wheel of life’ depicting human lifecycle; the Nirvana Buddha quietly observing earthly beings mourning a death; the goddess Tara stretching her legs out.

The exhibits also include titillating and colourful portraits of a myriad of Buddhist and Hindu deities, among them Buddha, the goddess Mayadevi, Lord Bhairav and goddess Vajrayogini.

In all, there are 84 ‘thanka’ and ‘mandala’ exhibits at the NAFA gallery.

”People always talk about modern artists. Nobody talks about our traditional artists even though their works are becoming increasingly popular around the world,” said Bijay Thapa, an academic and NAFA chief. ”So, we decided to organise this exhibition.”

Thanka means ‘roll-up’ in Tibetan and Buddhist monks roll them up and carry them along – this way, they can roll them out wherever they want and start praying or meditating. A ‘mandala’ is another type of ‘thanka’ painting. It shows the drawing of cosmos, often times with images of flowers, greenery and deities in it.

In and around Kathmandu valley, traditional Newari Buddhist artists paint ‘paubhas’, which are similar to ‘thankas’. ‘Paubha’ is where Buddhists meets Hinduism and blends together.

The ‘paubha’ artwork shows elaborate portraits of Hindu deities like Rato or Seto Matsyendranath. It shows the Hindu goddess of power, Kali, her eyes shaped like that of Tibetan goddess Tara, riding a Royal Bengal tiger. Or Lord Bhairab, the god of anger, exhaling fire.

As hundreds of visitors flock to these exhibits, the ‘thanka’ or ‘paubha’ artists are encouraged to do more.

Said Roj Bahadur Lama, 43, originally from Ramechhap district in the eastern hills, ”Our ancestors painted ‘thankas’ for religious purposes. Now we are doing it to sell our artwork. And people are appreciating them, too.”

Added a colleague at the NAFA exhibit, ”Now that we sort of got a national recognition here, we also feel encouraged to create more artworks like this in future.”

Some, like Norbu, also feel it is time to give something back to the place that gave him the opportunity to learn and imbibe the art. As someone who went to a local monastery in Dolpo for an education, Norbu has a dream to help children in his village go to school.

”I hope to raise 100,000 Nepali rupees (1,360 U.S. dollars) from this exhibition and donate it to the ill-equipped school in my village,” he said. The Kula Mountain School in his village was set up 20 years ago by a French citizen.