Thangka School, Manali.
All Photos © Mohit Gupta, All Rights Reserved

I was fortunate to be part of Tewfic’s Introduction to Multimedia Storytelling class at Foundry’ 09. The photo story I worked on revolved around the making of Buddhist religious scroll paintings (Thangkas  (or Thankas) as they are natively called).

Thangkas were originally intended to serve as a record of, and guide for contemplative experience. They were intended to convey iconographic information in a pictorial manner. A text of the same meditation would supply similar details in written descriptive form.

The art is highly geometric in nature. Because the art is explicitly religious all symbols and allusions must be in accordance with strict guidelines laid out in Buddhist scripture. The artist must be properly trained and have sufficient religious understanding, knowledge and background in order to create an accurate and appropriate Thangka.

My sincere thanks to Sonam Tenzin who gave me enough time to spend in his Thangka school and and also shared his knowledge about the art.