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"Thanka",
"Thangku" in Yolmo terminology, (literally meaning "flat image")
is a religious Mahayanic Buddhist scroll painting, elaborately done on canvas,
mounted in silk brocade and hung on the walls of Gompas (temples) and prayer rooms
as an object of refuge or supplication. "THANKA"
is the name for the scroll banner screen hanging in every temple Monastery and
family shrine in Tibet. They carry painted or embroidered pictures inside a broad
colored border and they can range in size from the page of a book to the facade
of an entire building. The picture is usually free hand painted on cotton canvas
which is proceed by a thin dust-cover, the mounting is of colorful silk. A heavy
wooden stick at the base allows a Thanka to be rolled up like a scroll for storage
or transportation or to hang securely without flapping. Thanka
first appeared in Tibet around 10th.Century A.D. The scroll form seems to have
been borrowed from China. This style of painting probably came from Nepal and
Kashmir. Apprentice thanka painters have studied under experienced Lamas (Priests). Thankas
were widely used in monastery schools as teaching tools because of their convenient
movability. Common folk hung them in thier homes as protection against evil spirits.
At he highest level of religious practice; mystics, in a state of meditation,
would become one with the Deity portrayed. Thanka can be simple
in design or very complicated. They can deal with a great number of subjects such
as Tibetan theology, astrology, pharmacology, the lives of Buddhist saints, as
well as Deities and Mandalas. Some of the samples of
"THANKA" are given below;
OE #T1 | 
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