Thangka Paintings of Himachal Pradesh

Places with a Tibetan community often sell intricate and brightly coloured cloth paintings called thangkas.
These are actually ritual paintings displayed during certain Buddhist festivals, but they happen to be extremely popular with foreign tourists (and cost the earth too!).
Thangkas are scroll paintings on canvas, edged with a border of rich silk, usually depicting the Buddha and other deities and the wheel of life. The painting follows complex dicta like proportional grids for each diety and traditional vegetable or mineral colours are used.

The Norbulingka Institute at McLeodganj is the centre of learning this ancient art of Tibet.

Topic
Arts & Crafts