Thangka Painting: Types, Features, Importance & More!

A Thangka painting is a Tibetan Buddhist artwork on cotton with silk applique depicting a Buddhist deity or legendary settings. Thangka paintings are significant teaching materials. They illustrate the Buddha’s life as well as the lives of numerous influential lamas, deities, and bodhisattvas.

This article will discuss Thangka painting in the context of the UPSC IAS exam. We will learn about its Background, Significance, Types, Features, and Process of Making Thangka Painting in this article.

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What are Thangka Paintings?

A thangka is a Tibetan Buddhist painting on cotton, silk, or canvas. Thangkas are usually scroll paintings, but they can also be mounted on a board. They typically depict religious subjects, such as Buddhas, bodhisattvas, and mandalas. Thangkas are used for meditation, worship, and teaching. 

History of Thangka Paintings

• Tibetan Buddhist paintings are based on early Buddhist paintings that may be found in a few locations in China, such as the Ajanta Caves and the Mogao Caves.
• Early Tibetan paintings on linen are preserved in these cave paintings. Along with Buddhist wall murals, the thangka style of painting evolved here.
• Individuals commissioned the majority of Thangka paintings.
• These completed commissions were presented to a monastery, where they would be kept by the people who commissioned them.
• Thangkas that have survived date from the 11th century. At least 20 of them are believed to date from the 11th and 12th centuries.
• Mongolia, Ladakh, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, and parts of Himalayan India were among the places where Tibetan Buddhism was practised and where Thangka paintings were created.

Check out the linked article on Tanjore painting.

Types of Thangka Paintings

Tangkas can be classified into the following categories based on technique and material:

• Those appliquéd or embroidered with silk.
• Coloured painting (tson-tang) is the most prevalent and well-known type of Thangka painting.
• Black background (Nagtang)
• Red Background (mar-tang)
• Embroidery (Tsem-thang)
• Gold Background

Check out the linked article on Mughal paintings.

Features of Thangka Paintings

The features of thangka paintings are described in the points below:

• Thangkas are usually small, measuring between 20 and 50 cm in height.
• For special religious occasions, even larger thangkas from the appliqué category are unrolled. They’ll probably be 60 feet wide or more.
• There are also smaller thangkas that were made for atlas or for temple display.
• Tangkas are made of cotton or silk and are hand-painted.
• The most popular method is to create loosely woven cotton with widths ranging from 0 to 58 cm. Pigments are suspended in a water-soluble medium made of animal glue. Mineral and organic pigments are used in the process.

Check out the linked article on Pahari painting.

Making of Thangka Painting

The process of making a thangka painting is as follows:

• Well, creating a Thangka painting is a difficult process that demands a great deal of focus while doing so. The sutras, according to which the beginning and end of painting creation take place, are something that must be considered when designing Buddha paintings.
• While creating Thanga paintings, several phases are taken into consideration, including the production of the canvas, the application of colour, and the finalisation of the image.
• The golden and silver linings, hanging, stitching, and other decorations are all attached to the Thangka paintings.
• The Thangka painting was created with complete attention and care because a single stroke might undo an artist’s entire hard work.

Check out the linked article on pithora painting.

Thangka Paintings: Significance

• Buddha and his teachings, as well as those of other deities and bodhisattvas, are depicted in Thangka paintings.
• The Bhavachakra (Wheel of Life), which is how the Art of Enlightenment is visually depicted, is the most prevalent subject.
• The thangka paintings are now extensively utilised for prayers and decorating in printed versions and poster sizes. Many paintings were created as a set, but as time passed, they were divided.
• Thangka paintings are historical depictions of events that are used as teaching tools.
• Devotional images are typically utilised as a medium for prayer requests and serve as the focal point of a ritual or celebration. In general, the Thangka art is employed as a meditative technique to help people progress along the path to enlightenment.
• A Buddhist Vajrayana devotee utilises a thangka picture of the meditation god (yidam) as a guide, visualising himself as the deity and, therefore, eliciting the Buddha’s characteristics inside himself.

Check out the linked article on Gandhara and Mathura School of Art.

UPSC Mains Practice Question Related To Thangka Paintings

• Explain the History and Significance of Thangka Painting. What are the different types of Thangka Paintings?

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