Description
Sacred Art of Nepal is not a catalogue of Nepalese Museum or Art Gallery. The paubhäs and thankas produced here are samples of Newar artists’ contributions in the past as well as the present. We have produced here some paubhãs (Newar) and thankas (ethnic Tibetan) from contemporary artists, which give us a picture and scene that had been transmitted since more than a thousand years ago. The casual reader may find it difficult to differentiate paubha from thanka.
The purpose of this monograph is to arouse a global awareness of the fact that the Newar paubha is a precursor to Tibetan thanka painting.
It has been a tradition in the west to believe that the paintings created in thanka factories by Nepali boys are fake and are quite often badly finished paintings and hence they do not benefit Tibetans, Tibetan art and culture or western Buddhist practitioners. It is said that they have no religious value.
This notion is a gross mistake. Not all the paintings by Nepali artists are of that kind. It is because they are not familiar with genuine Nepali artists on whom they comment.
The paubha or thanka paintings as a Himalayan art has been an important focus of study in Western Universities and Indological Institutions of the world. Westerners visit Nepal and Tibet and return to their countries with the memories of their cultures, habits, environment and so forth.
Paubha or thanka painting is one of the many cultural traditions which were handed down from generation to generation till today. It seems that exemplars of these traditions are well-received by westerners.
