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ART
Eternal India
encyclopedia
The caves and temples at Badami in the Deccan were commis-
sioned by King Mangalesa of the Western Chalukya dynasty. Only
fragments of paintings survive on the walls inside the cave. The
court scene depicts a dark prince, (possibly King Kirtivarman),
Mangalesa's elder brother.
The Virupaksha temple at Hampi has murals representing epi-
sodes from the
Mahabharata
and
Ramayapa.
One scene shows
Vidyaranya, the guru of Harihara and Bukka, being carried on a pal-
anquin.
The great Brihadesvara temple at Tanjore built by the Chola
Kings has paintings on its walls and ceilings.
On the western wall Shiva appears as Yoga Dakshinamurthy,
seated on a tiger skin and watching the dance of two apsaras. A
little further on, a Chola-style temple with Nataraja enshrined in it
is depicted. There is also painted a huge Nataraja with priests and
devotees on the one side, and the royal family on the other.
On the northern wall, there is the painting of Tripurantaka -
Shiva as a big eight-armed warrior riding a chariot driven by
Brahma.
THE ART OF THANKAS
The ancient monasteries of Ladakh have played a major role in
cultivating and preserving the ancient Buddhist culture. They are
storehouses of priceless religious manuscripts, scriptures, paint-
ings and statues.
These monasteries have thankas or painted scrolls hung in the
nooks of the prayer hall.
The Buddhists staunchly believe that because thankas are de-
votional paintings, they ward off evil spirits, ghosts and malevolent
forces. Displaying these paintings in monasteries and in private
chapels, therefore helps protect the dwellers from all evil.
The material used for painting a thanka is usually coarse wool-
len, cotton or linen fabric. Silk is chosen for important subjects. The
cloth for painting is stretched on a wooden board and a layer of thin,
starchy paste made of animal ghee and talcum powder is smeared
over the surface so as to fill into the texture and close up the holes.
As the paste dries, the artist rubs the fabric with a flat stone or a
piece of wood to smoothen the surface. Once dry, the cloth is ready
for painting.
The artist starts with the central deity first. The secondary
figures and the landscape around the principal deities are executed
thereafter. A charcoal stick is used to draw thick lines. Colours are
bright but never harsh. Pigments used are taken from minerals and
plants like malochite and cinnabar. Colours principally used are red,
yellow, green, limewhite, vermilion, blue and indigo. Gold is used to
depict Buddha and the Bodhisattvas. Animal glue was added to the
paint to increase its shine. The brushes used are fine twigs to which
rabbit or goat hair is attached.
The image of Buddha must strictly conform to the sacred texts.
The image of Buddha is drawn in single lines and painted with even
colouring. An elaborate background is given to the central deity.
Every object in the painting has a symbolic religious signifi-
cance; bells and drums are symbols of praise; beads of devotion,
flowers signify religious accomplishments in the other worlds, jew-
els represent religious merit achieved in this world, and weapons
cause destruction of demons.
The art of thanka painting was introduced to Ladakh in the 11th
century. Most of the artists are Buddhist nuns or monks. The
painting work is commenced at an auspicious moment and the artist
chants prayers as he paints.
Once the painting was completed, the painting was invoked
with a divine presence at a ceremony called Pranapratishta. The
thanka is then ceremoniously installed and from then on worshipped
as sacred.
Thankas are usually rectangular in shape. Each monastery has
at least one thanka of 500 to 1000 ft, The famous thanka of Guru
Padmasambhava at the Hemis monastery in Ladakh has brocade
patchwork and worked with pearls. This is displayed only once in 12
years at the time of the Hemis festival.
The subjects of painting include life histories of saints and
teachers and events from the life of Lord Buddha; sometimes even
wrathful deities are painted. These are called as dharmapalas.
Vajrapani is the most common of these deities. He stands sur-
rounded by flames holding a thunderbolt
(Vajra)
in his right hand.
Another major theme of the thankas is the wheel of life and
death. It depicts the four truths about the source of all evil and the
consequent suffering. It illustrates the cycle of birth, death and
rebirth all mortal beings must go through before attaining liberation
through spiritual merit.
SELECTED REFERENCES
Archer, W.G.,
Indian Paintings from the Punjab Hills
, Vols 1&2,
Delhi 1973.
Basham A.L.,
The Wonder that was India,
New York 1954.
Bussagli, Mario & Sivaramamurti,
5000 years of the Art of India
Chandra Moti Jain,
Miniature Paintings from Western India.
A.K. Coomaraswamy,
Rajput Painting - Introduction to Indian Art.
Khandalwala, Karl J and Chandra, Moti,
New Documents of Indian
Painting - a Reappraisal,
Bombay 1969
Kramrisch, Stella,
The Hindu Temple : A Survey of Paintings in the
Deccan,
London, 1937
N.C. Mehta,
Studies in Indian Painting,
Bombay 1928.