Of Tamangs and Thangkas

Indigenous people the world over are regarded the least by occupying forces. This extends no less to the Tibetans marginalized in their own country by the Chinese or to the First Nations in the United States of North America (and Canada), the subjugation of the Maya in Central America, or the Tamang in Nepal.

As with similar populations, the origins of the people are shrouded in a past for which only conjecture remains. DNA shows a hybridization of Tibetan and Nepalese mixture; but this doesn't tell us who they are. They are the oldest inhabitants in the region and are mostly farmers, though there are many who are porters, guides, and artisans of high proficiency.

Despite comprising five or six percent of the population, they are the most neglected, if not outright marginalized, people in Nepal. They were also disproportionately affected by the April 2015 earthquake (see graphic for breakout, but for greater detail on the Tamangs, this article is a good place to start.

Source: http://www.nepalitimes.com/blogs/thebrief/2015/07/05/the-tamang-epicentre/

Recently, with the floods in Terai, more Tamang have been put at risk. Since political representation is nominal, at best, they are the last to be considered in any relief situation and the circumstances are stagnant. They are under-represented, under-educated (30% literacy rate) and even in religious areas where they should be flocked to by scholars, they are ignored. The Tamang have a rich history of Bon and Nyingmapa Tibetan Buddhism as intitutional anchors, as well as a rich shamanic tradition with myriad local and clan deities.

Tamang Thangkas: Innovation and a New Approach to a Centuries-Old Tradition

My friend Gomchen Karma Yogi is Tamang and has been a defender of his people throughout the years. His conference on Shamanism, Science, and Climate Change in October is a testimony to that. Another project he's shared with me is the promotion of a small thangka workshop near Boudha. There are approximately five artists including the sister of the owner who's a partner with Gomchen and the work is extraordinary, utterly unlike any I've seen before. While the iconography is correct and the general approach as exacting and precise in more 'orthodox' forms, the line work, color palates, and general rendering is of a completely different order than what one sees in the standard stable of thangka artists.

Gomchen and the artist who is working on the White Tara thangka below.

What follows are details of a White Tara painted by the sister of the owner of the shop. She is simply one of the finest artists I've come across and these photos absolutely do not justice to the work. I'd like to come back and learn more about this particular style; the line work is so dynamic and the handling of volume is different from anything I've seen in more traditional styles. I want to know how far back this approach goes (or is it a recent innovation?) and who is the master who began this tradition of painting.

Mostly the upper half of the center and left part of the piece. It looks wobbly because I took the shot at an angle. 

This is a detail of  the upper/center left portion of the piece with Tara waiting for filling in. Notice the way the flowers do most of the work in leading the eye around the composition.

White Tara's lotus seat atop which is a moon disk. This photo does not do justice, but open it up and carefully examine the vigorous, assured line work. 

The wish-fulfilling gems at the bottom of the picture. The color palate is mostly pastel earth tones that aren't as bright as in typical thangkas, but are more intense in their handling.

The overall composition. This is a remarkable work; be sure you click on the image to open it up and examine it closely in whatever photo editor you have.

It's Gomchen's hope, and mine too, for that matter, to bring these works to the U.S. If anyone's interested, please let me know. You can reach me by leaving a comment and I'll get back to you as soon as I'm able. What we'd like to see, would be a gallery space to house a number of these works sometime in the spring. I'll be happy to send details and put this together. Note that the works will be mostly rolled and any assistance with presentation would be appreciated. It's possible that some may have brocaded framing, but some may require framing. It would be, of course, more expedient to have any framing done in the U.S.

Thangkas by and for Tamang: Tradition in a Modern Context

All of this is not to say that I don't treasure more traditional approaches. One of the very best is Tashi Lama's Rinchen Ling Gallery and Workshop across from the stupa. I haven't asked Tashi this, but seeing as he's a Drikungpa fellow, my assumption is that the gallery is related to the Drikung Kagyu monastery of the same name in Kathamndu. To say the work is stellar is to invite derision for stating the obvious. Again, most of the students and artists in the workshop are Tamang and part of the profits from any sale go to assist the Tamang community. In the following photos, you'll see a fraction of the masterpieces Tashi and his workshop have produced.

This is a cosmological sphere and I haven't analyzed it into much more than that. It has resonant, abstract, non-verbal power to it.

 
Yamantaka.

A Green Tara that is just beauty itself (again, be sure to open these images up for thorough inspection.)

This is a  huge thangka made for meditating, if there ever was one; the bindu or thig-le in the middle would be the object to hold. There are several approaches and uses for use.

White Tara in gold! Gorgous. Simply gorgeous.

Below are a couple of shots looking out on the street; I hope to get back to give Rinchen Ling a fuller treatment. The workshop upstairs is one of the best organized thangka schools I've seen and I hope, if Tashi has time, to hear more and document more fully his side of the Tamang story.

And of course, the man behind all this, Mr. Tashi Lama!

I should also add that I'm a (very satisfied) customer. Recently, Ah-tri meditation came up and I'm working with someone to walk them through the gist of it. I asked Tashi if he could execute a small thangka with the Tibetan syllabe "Ah" in the middle on a blue background with the colors of the elements encircling the syllable. He obliged beatifully and the result follows: