Tangka
is a kind of scroll painting mounted on silk.
It has distinctive ethnic features and a strong
religious flavor. Its unique artistic style is
highly prized by the Tibetan people.
The origin of tangka can be traced
back to the early Tubo Kingdom. During the 7th
century, King Songtsan Gambo united Tibet. To
strengthen political, economic and cultural
exchanges with Tibet's neighbors, he married
Princess Chizun of Nepal and Princess Wencheng
of the Tang Dynasty. Around this period he ordered
the construction of Potala Palace and some other
grand edifices. To decorate them, he drafted
a large number of people to paint murals. This
greatly promoted Tibet's art of painting. According
to the Catalogue of Jokhang Monastery written
by the Fifth Dalai Lama, "The King (Songtsan
Gambo) used the blood from his nose to paint
a portrait of the White Lhamo. Later, while
a statue of the White Lhamo was being sculpted,
the portrait was hidden in the abdomen of the
statue." This is the earliest record of
a tangka painting. This tangka has been lost,
but we can conclude that tangka was a new Tibetan
art form which flourished during the reign of
Songtsan Gambo.
Following the spread of Buddhism,
Buddhist art also flourished. Since tangkas
are easy to make, not limited by the variety
of buildings, and easy to hang and store, they
were used as a means to spread Buddhism. From
then on, tangkas and murals developed side by
side, becoming two bright pearls in the history
of Tibetan painting.
Tangkas depict a wide range of
themes. A considerable number of ancient tangkas
have been preserved. However, few tangkas dating
from the Tang and Song dynasties remain. The
Sakya Monastery houses a tangka entitled Sanggyai
Dongsha, which contains 35 Buddhist images.
Its style is similar to the murals found in
the Dunhuang Grottoes. It is said to have been
completed during the Tubo Kingdom, and is a
rare treasure. The Potala Palace houses three
Song Dynasty tangkas, two of which are kesi
(a type of weaving done in fine silks and gold
thread by the tapestry method). A portrait of
Palma Toinyoi Chuba has a caption written in
Tibetan at the bottom of the tangka saying that
it was made at the order of Gyaincain Zhading
as a gift for his teacher Chagba Gyaincain.
A tangka with a portrait of Kungtang Lama (1123-1194)
was made in the late Song Dynasty. Another tangka,
depicting the life of Mila Rigba, describes
Mila Rigba's self-cultivation. Experts have
concluded that it was made in the Tang Dynasty.
In the Ming and Qing dynasties,
to strengthen its rule over Tibet, the central
government conferred honorific titles on religious
leaders in Tibet. In the Ming Dynasty eight
religious leaders received the title of prince,
and in the Qing Dynasty the titles of Dalai
Lama and Panchen Lama were conferred. These
measures were favorable to Tibet's social order,
and social and cultural development. In this
period, the art of tangka also scaled a new
height. The number of tangkas saw a remarkable
increase, and different schools emerged. In
general, the tangkas of Eestern Tibet are noted
for fine brushwork, expertly depicting the inner
world of man; the tangkas of Western Tibet are
similar to gongbi (traditional Chinese realistic
painting characterized by fine brushwork and
close attention to detail) paintings with their
bright colors.
Very few tangkas bear the names
of their painters, but some of the most famous
painters of tangka, such as Lozhag Dainzin Norbu
of Eastern Tibet, and Qoiying Gyaco and Jamyang
Wangbu of Western Tibet, were master painters
of the 17th century. Some tangkas were painted
by talented lamas. In the past, monasteries
were places of learning. Many senior monks were
not only masters of Buddhist theory, but also
excellent painters. Atisa, who entered Tibet
to spread Buddhism during the 11th century,
was a master painter of Buddhist portraits.
It is said that he painted two tangkas. One
is kept in the Razheng Monastery, and the other,
a portrait of Vajra-Buddha, is kept in the Nietang
Temple, which also houses a self-portrait of
Atisa. Gunga Gyaincain of the Sakya Monastery
painted a portrait of Manjusri Bodhisattva for
the North Sakya Monastery. Tsongkapa, founder
of the Yellow Sect of Tibetan Buddhism, was
also good at painting. It is said that he once
painted a self-portrait for his mother living
in what is now Qinghai Province. Religious leaders
of later generations, such as Ngaming Losang
Gyaco, also painted tangkas for monasteries.
Most tangkas are painted on cloth,
silk or paper, but there are also tangkas of
embroidery, brocade and applique. Embroidery
tangka is done with silk thread of different
colors, depicting landscapes, figures, flowers,
feathers, pavilions and towers. Brocade tangkas
are woven on jacquard looms, with warp-and-weft
patterns. Applique tangkas are made by pasting
figures and patterns of colored silk on a background
material; and kesi tangkas are like relief sculpture,
with a three-dimensional effect, something like
a special handicraft combining the art of painting
with silk weaving. These fabric tangkas have
compact compositions, fine patterns and bright
colors. They are of close texture and very decorative.
Some tangkas are inlaid with pearls and precious
stones. At first, most fabrics used for making
tangkas were made in the interior. Later, Tibet
developed embroidery and applique tangkas. There
are also tangkas made from woodblock prints,
the working procedures including painting the
original design, engraving the block, printing,
color application and mounting.
Tangkas depict a wide range of
themes taken from Tibetan history, social life,
folk customs, astronomy, the calendar and traditional
Tibetan medicine. Using paintings to reflect
history is a remarkable characteristic of tangkas.
Tangkas depicting the general history of Tibet
are composed of scenes of important events at
various stages of Tibetan history, together
with captions. Tangkas depicting dynastic history
portray scenes of historical periods, reflecting
relevant historical events. There is another
kind of tangkas portraying the life stories
of certain personages (including religious figures).
Potala Palace houses a tangka of an atlas of
celestial bodies. Each planet is in the form
of an animal, symbolizing one of the 12 heavenly
bodies moving in its own orbit. It is an important
cultural relic for the study of ancient astronomy
and the Tibetan calendar. Norbu Lingka houses
a complete set of medical tangkas, totaling
62 paintings and showing medical principles,
the structure of the human body, acupoints on
the channels and collaterals of the body, medical
apparatus and pharmaceuticals. In the 17th century,
during the reign of Sanggyai Gyaco, famous painters
from various parts of Tibet were summoned to
make a complete set of tangkas illustrating
the corpus of Tibetan medicine.
The main theme of tangka is religion,
such as portraits of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas,
scenes of saints expounding the sutras, temples,
religious personages, and religious stories.
Such pictures make up more than 80 percent.
Even tangkas depicting Tibetan history and science
have a strong religious flavor. In general,
a tangka depicting a religious theme is divided
into three parts: upper, middle and lower, representing
heaven, earth and the underworld, respectively.
The middle part shows Buddhas, such as Sakyamuni;
the upper part shows Bodhisattvas; and the lower
part has pictures of monks and guardian deities.
All big monasteries in Tibet house
a considerable number of tangkas. At Potala
Palace a two-story building was built as a warehouse
for storing tangkas. On the 30th day of the
second month by the Tibetan calendar a prayer
ceremony is held. Several thousand lamas from
Zhebung Monastery and other temples gather at
Potala to hold religious rites and various other
ceremonies. Two huge tangkas with portraits
of Buddha are hung on the terrace. This is called
"sunning the Buddha."
Tibet's murals and tangkas, while
preserving the fine traditions of Tibetan painting,
have also absorbed techniques from the interior
of China as well as neighboring countries such
as India and Nepal, to form a style of their
own. Over a long period of time, different schools
have appeared, the most famous being the "Maintang"
and "Qingzi." The former features
compact composition and elegance, represented
by the murals in Jokhang Monastery and Potala
Palace; the latter features boldness and liveliness,
represented by murals and tangkas in Xialu,
Baiqoi and Toding monasteries.
