Before starting our conversation about a Thangka painting it’s important to define what it is in general. Well, a Thangka painting is a very ancient Tibetan Buddhist form of art that has been practiced in Tibet for more than one thousand years. The word Thangka from the Tibetan language means a painting. These paintings belonging to Thangka Tibetan Buddhist form of art depict many different deities and such honored Tibetan teachers as the historical Lord Buddha Shakyamuni. The pictures depicting these images are designed to inspire people through their incomparable beauty. Besides, a painted deity also offers a visual support to those people who are practicing meditation.
Speaking about the origins of Thangka painting it’s necessary to mention that they go back to Lord Buddha Shakyamuni and go even further beyond into the past years. According to the legend, Lord Buddha used to live in India some 2600 years ago. There he taught the Holy Dharma to a large number of people following him and also instructed as well as greatly inspired numerous artists of that time as well as those who worked after his death. Due to the flourishing of Lord Buddha's Teachings in India even after his lifetime, these Teachings were spread far beyong India and reached many neighbouring countries including Tibet.
Well, later on, in order to establish the religion of Buddhism in Tibet, one of the innovative Tibetan kings named Songsten Gampo married the Chinese princess whose name was Kongjo in the early seventh century. Kongjo brought scriptures of Lord Buddha’s Teachings, as well as a great number of Buddhist sculptures and paintings. She also introduced a Chinese style of painting to many artists who came from China following her. This was the earliest stage of the history of the Tibetan Thangka painting that has been referred to the old Gadri style.
One more style of Tibetan Thangka painting is called Menri. It was introduced in the country of Tibet from Nepal in the ninth century. Since that time, two major traditions with their differing schools were founded in Tibetan Thangka painting. Thus, Gadri has been established in the Eastern part of Tibet, while Menri was established in Central and Western part of the country of Tibet. Thus, Gadri has been established in the Eastern part of Tibet, while Menri was established in Central and Western part of the country of Tibet.
Somewhere in the year of 1500, the Gadri style experienced a great renaissance because of the impact of the artist named Namka Tashi, who was connected with the Great Saint Mikyo Dorje, the 8th Karmapa. Some other important contributions were made by the artists named Cho Tashi and Kasho Karma Tashi. These artists contributed into Thangka painting with establishment of what has been known then as the Karma Gadri style of Tibetan Thangka painting. This very style is still alive nowadays inspiring a great number of people. So, if you would like to have a copy or even an original of one of those painting, you can look for them online.
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