Offering of Prayer to Buddha at Svayambhunath Mahachaitya

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The term stupa, Pali (thupa) is derived from the root stup (to heap), are mounds or tumuli. Originally, they had a funerary association, being mounds containing the ashes and charred remains of the dead collected from the funeral pyre. That's it is also called Chaitya. The practice of erecting stupas over corporeal relics was pre-Buddhist practice. The Buddhist stupas has broadly been grouped into four categories: 1. Sharirika, 2. Paribhogika, 3. Uddeshika, and 4. Vratanushthita (Manaoti) or Votive.

1. Sharirika, signifies those stupas erected over the corporeal relics of Buddha, his chief disciple, Buddhist teachers and saints.

2. Paribhogika, this category of stupas were built over the objects believed to have been used by Buddha, like pinda patra, robe, sticks etc.

3. Uddeshika (memorial) – this type of stupa was commemorative of the incidents of Buddha's life, including those of his previous births, or spots hallowed by his presence.

4. Vratanushthita (Manaoti) or Votive – small in size, votive stupa mostly erected by the pilgrims when they visited the secret sites for attaining religious merit.

Stupa is generally in the shape of a hemispherical dome, truncated at the top and placed over a lofty terrace. This terrace must have been a procession path for pradakshina. A railing encloses the dome and the terrace. The dome is surmounted by a pavilion (harmika) from which rises the shaft (danda) of the umbrella (chhattra), the Indian emblem of sovereignty, signifying the reign of Dharma. The finial is called the tee which is derived from the Burmese word hti.

The stupa underwent an interesting development in its chhattra, giving an elongated appearance to the later stupas such as those in Nepal and China. Moreover the elongation that dome gradually underwent development can be seen in Chaitya of Svayambhunath of Nepal and the Thuparama dagoba of Anuradhapura in Shri Lanka. Every part of a stupa has special meaning that's why it is said that a symbolical significance is attached to each part of the stupa and the stupa itself representing Mount Meru.

When the cult of stupa became popular, Chaitya-griha or Chaitya halls were erected to provide a convenient shelter to the devotees, where he might perform his worship without beings handicapped by weather. The Chaitya halls consist of an apse housing a stupa and a nave for congregation with or without a partition-wall in between. Later on when the anthropomorphic image of Buddha evolved, it replaced the stupa in Chaitya halls.

The famous Svayambhunath stupa of Kathmandu Valley, originally built by the king of Shantikaracharya, a mythological king of Nepal has a long history. For the Nepalese Buddhists it marks the site of the Shri Svayambhu Jyotirupa, a large bejeweled thousand petalled lotus that supported the Buddha Vajrasattva in the middle of a lake during his meditations. Manjushri drained the lake, thus creating the Kathmandu Valley, in order to better worship the beam of light emitted by the lotus. However, the draining also exposed the Jyotirupa to danger and Vajrasattva covered it with a stone slab. Much later King Shantikaracharya as mentioned above raised the Svayambhunath stupa over the slab. The epithet Svayambhunath Mahachaitya symbolized the manifestation of the Adi-Buddha, while Svayambhu Jyotirupa, self-originated Light-Form, the original manifestation of Svayambhu Mahachaitya, symbolizing light rays of the five Dhyani-Buddhas. Later on many stupas were erected surrounding Svayambhunath stupa.

The centre of the central dome of the present painting depicts standing Buddha on a lotus throne. His right hand is hanging down in Varada-mudra, while the left hand holds a pindapatra. There is a parasol over his head, an aureole, and halo behind his body and head, respectively. The dome is encircled with lotuses and leaves. This is an entablature above the dome. The entablature is surmounted by an eight-tiered finial topped by a vase with scarf and festooned with flags. At the base of the stupa are auspicious offerings in two rows and below, is a row of enshrined prayer-wheel. Below these rows, three standing lamas are shown in prayer-gesture. An exquisitely designed gold aureole with gemstone, behind the central dome, represents a fire fence or protective flames of wisdom. The whole structure of central chaitya stands on a solar disk on a lotus throne.

The space surrounding the central image is filled with the scene of worship of votive stupas; celestial beings and a stupa are depicted in clouds. Below the lotus seat of central image, a standing Buddha is depicted in the arch and surrounding him are standing lamas with offerings and stupas. Each side of the middle ground is filled with the verses of Buddha's teachings in Tibetan script.

There are two rows of arch shaped like structure at the top and bottom of the painting which contains the images of Buddha and other Buddhist deities. The topmost row contains at its centre Padmasambhava, flanked by his two disciples. On the left corner of this row depicts a Karmapa lama with his two disciples, on his left is a Blessing Buddha with two attendants. On the left of Padmasambhava, is Vairochana Buddha with two attendants. The right corner of this row also depicts a Karmapa lama with two attendant lamas. The row, below the uppermost, depicts aspects of Buddha Shakyamuni, Siddhas with their disciples and Thousand-Armed Avalokiteshvara with attendants and flying deities.

The aspects of Buddha has also been depicted in first bottom row, while wrathful deities with Palden Lhamo in the centre.

Select Bibliography

D. Mitra, Buddhist Monuments, Calcutta, 1971

Hugo E. Kreijger, Kathmandu Valley Painting (The Jucker Collection), London, 1999

J.C. Huntington and D. Bangdel, The Circle of Bliss: Buddhist Meditational Art, Ohio, 2004

Lokesh Chandra, Transcendental Art of Tibet, Delhi, 1996

P.V. Bapat, 25, 00 Years of Buddhism, Delhi, 1956

This description is by Dr. Shailendra K. Verma, whose Doctorate thesis is on "Emergence and Evolution of the Buddha Image (From its inception to 8th century A.D.)".

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Unveiling the Divine Art: Journey into the Making of Thangkas

A Thangka is a traditional Tibetan Buddhist painting that usually depicts a Buddhist Deity (Buddha or Bodhisattva), a scene, or a mandala. These paintings are considered important paraphernalia in Buddhist rituals. They are used to teach the life of the Buddha, various lamas, and Bodhisattvas to the monastic students, and are also useful in visualizing the deity while meditating. One of the most important subjects of thangkas is the Bhavacakra (the wheel of life) which depicts the Art of Enlightenment. It is believed that Thangka paintings were developed over the centuries from the murals, of which only a few can be seen in the Ajanta caves in India and the Mogao caves in Gansu Province, Tibet. Thangkas are painted on cotton or silk applique and are usually small in size. The artist of these paintings is highly trained and has a proper understanding of Buddhist philosophy, knowledge, and background to create a realistic and bona fide painting.

The process of making a thangka begins with stitching a loosely woven cotton fabric onto a wooden frame. Traditionally, the canvas was prepared by coating it with gesso, chalk, and base pigment.

After this, the outline of the form of the deity is sketched with a pencil or charcoal onto the canvas using iconographic grids. The drawing process is followed in accordance with strict guidelines laid out in Buddhist scriptures. The systematic grid helps the artist to make a geometrical and professional painting. When the drawing of the figures is finalized and adjusted, it is then outlined with black ink.

Earlier, a special paint of different colors was made by mixing powdered forms of organic (vegetable) and mineral pigments in a water-soluble adhesive. Nowadays, artists use acrylic paints instead. The colors are now applied to the sketch using the wet and dry brush techniques. One of the characteristic features of a thangka is the use of vibrant colors such as red, blue, black, green, yellow, etc.

In the final step, pure gold is coated over some parts of the thangka to increase its beauty. Due to this beautification, thangkas are much more expensive and also stand out from other ordinary paintings.

Thangka paintings are generally kept unrolled when not on display on the wall. They also come with a frame, a silken cover in front, and a textile backing to protect the painting from getting damaged. Because Thangkas are delicate in nature, they are recommended to be kept in places with no excess moisture and where there is not much exposure to sunlight. This makes them last a long time without their colors fading away. Painting a thangka is an elaborate and complex process and requires excellent skills. A skilled artist can take up to 6 months to complete a detailed thangka painting. In earlier times, thangka painters were lamas that spent many years on Buddhist studies before they painted.