Talk - Deciphering the Thangka August 29, 2009

Talk - Deciphering the Thangka an illustrated talk by Kishore Thukral and an exhibition. A 'Thangka,' is a painted or embroidered Buddhist banner which was hung in a monastery or a family altar and occasionally carried by monks in ceremonial processions. It is a scroll painting which can be easily rolled and transported from monastery to monastery. These thangka served as important teaching tools depicting the life of the Buddha, various influential lamas and other deities and bodhisattvas. But how does one distinguish one diety from another. There are gods and goddesses, some benign, others wrathful, some universal, others local, almost always represented in one of the five colours of Vajrayana Buddhism white, green, yellow, red or blue (black, in some cases). What finally differentiates these deities is their asana (posture), mudra (gesture), and their attributes and accompanying symbols. In fact so vast is the array of deities within the Buddhist pantheon that sometimes a monk himself is unable to tell one from another. In his lecture, Kishore Thukral talks about the markers of identity and the significance of some of these Buddhist deities and symbols that appear frequently in wall paintings and thangkas. Kishore Thukral has trekked, photographed and researched extensively in the western Himalayas, and is the author of the book, Spiti through Legend and Lore, published in 2006. Kishore is also the founder of the Dhangkar Initiative, an ongoing project that aims to link the restoration of the ancient Dhangkar monastery in Spiti with a livelihood generation programme for the local community (see www.dhangkar.com). All profits from the sale of his book have been pledged to the Dhangkar project. Through his efforts Dhangkar was recognized by the World Monuments Fund as one of the hundred most endangered historical sites in the world for the period 2006-2007 (www.wmf.org). Born, raised and residing in Delhi, Kishore has been a member of several mountaineering expeditions. A graduate in History and Law, he is a financial planner by profession. He is also a bilingual writer. The Chronicler's Daughter, a novel published in 2002, was his first work in English. He has also authored short stories and plays in Hindi, some of which have been performed by mentally challenged children and young adults.

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