Thankas

Nestled in the streets of Bhaktapur, a kingdom in Nepal, is the Lama Thanka Painting School. It was by a lucky chance that we got to see it, for the guide we hired was a student of the school himself.

Small yet cosy, we were greeted by students and treated to a choice of these wonderfully colorful Tibetian paintings that make Nepal famous the world-over. Made with natural colors, by crushing stones with yak skin, and 24-carat gold, these fine, detailed and pretty works come in three types: Mandala, Wheel of Life and Life of Buddha. Personally, the Wheel of Life is my favorite (extremely entertaining). But be forewarned, these paintings are astonishingly expensive, even direct from the manufacturers. Being the able bargainer that he is, my dad managed to get three for a total of Rs. 2000.

1. Kalachakra Mandala: (Statutory warning: If you don't understand the contents of the following, which you probably won't, check out http://www.thangkapainting.com/) This is basically a Tantra repersenting five chapters dealing with 3 kalachakras-the external, internal and alternative. The figure stretched out in the mandala is the symbol of the cosmic universe through which humans pass after being delivered from suffering of psychic pain (and attain nirvana).
2. Life of Buddha: This depicts the story of his life (duh) from his birth in Lumbini (southern Nepal) 2500 years ago, through his life of isolated royal splendour and awakening to suffering , meditation, nirvana (internal peace) to finally his leaving of this world aged 81, having exhausted his human body for the sake of all sentient beings.
3. The Wheel of Life: It is the wheel of existence-- the endless life cycle of humans, believed to have been drawn by the Buddha himself. A demon identified as Yama (God of Death) clutches the whole wheel. In the centre are a pig, snake and cock(sins of ignorance, anger, lust). The rest is too complicated (basically about lower and higher levels of existence), demigods at the top (happy realms) and wretched realms at the bottom (blah) and the outer rim has 12 scenes depicting chain of cause and effect. But all forms of existence, even gods, are shown as transient and that's why the wheel is held in the claws of death (pleasant, huh??).