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Inspired by their close-to-nature
ethos and the intense, vivid colors of the high
Himalayan mountains, Bhutanese craftsmen possess
consummate and age-old skills in working with clay
and wood, as well as bronze, iron., silver and other
fine metals. Another area where the Bhutanese
attained renown centuries ago was in calligraphy. Of
late these arts and crafts have been undergoing a
period of enthusiastic revival, and the second
objective of the government’s Sixth Plan lays
special emphasis on the preservation and promotion
of the nation’s rich cultural heritage.
The development of a high order of Buddhist arts and
crafts in Bhutan may be traced to the great
fifteenth-century Terton Pema Lingpa, who was at one
and the same time accomplished xylographer, painter,
sculptor and architect. Examples of his artistic
genius are still in evidence at his seat in Tamshing
Monastery.
Subsequently, the country’s arts and crafts received
a further boost when in 1680 Desi Tenzin Rabgye,
under instructions from Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyal,
opened the school of Zorichusum or thirteen types of
Bhutanese arts and crafts, that included painting,
sculpture, embroidery, and bronze, silver, and gold
work.
These traditional forms of Bhutanese artistry have
been maintained not only through the zealous
patronage of the royal family, nobility and clergy,
but also with the active support of the common
people, who have depended on the artisans for the
wide variety of wooden and metal objects that are
indispensable elements of the typical Bhutanese
household.
Bhutanese art has two main characteristics: it is
religious and anonymous. The Bhutanese consider the
commissioning of painting and statues a pious act,
which gains them merit. The name of the donor is
sometimes written on the work so that his pious act
may be remembered. The artist is often a religious
man who also gains merit from creating the work.
However, the artist’s name is almost never
mentioned.
Since the iconographic conventions in Bhutanese art
are very strict, the first responsibility of the
Bhutanese artist is to observe them scrupulously.
However, he can also express his own personality in
minor details or scenes.
The subjects of Bhutanese art include the Wheel of
Life; the four Guardians; the Bodhisattva
Avalokiteshvara (Chenrezi) in his multiple forms;
the Sixteen Arhats (Net en Chudrug); the Eighty-four
Mahasiddhas (Drt~bthob Gyechushi); the Thousand
Buddha’s; Guru Rinpoche and his Eight
Manifestations; Buddha Aimitayas (Tsepamey); the
highest deities of Tantric Cycles like Hevagriwa
(Kyedorje) and Cakrasamvara (Demchog); the
protective deities such as the different forms of
Mahakala (Gompo), Palden Lhamo, Gyelpo Pehar; and
various diagrams (mandalas, kyilkhor). Some of the
most beautiful and astonishing paintings are the
cosmic mandalas, which show the conception of the
world according to the Adhidharmakosha, an
encyclopedic treaty on Buddhist cosmology\y and
philosophy composed by an Indian scholar,
Vasubandhu, in the fifth century A.D, and the
Kalachakra (Wheel of Time) Tantra, a text of the
tenth century A. D, that presents the basic
conception of cosmology and astrology of Tantric
Buddhism. We find them in Paro Dzong, Punakha Dzong
and Gangtey Gompa. As Bhutan has been the stronghold
of the Nyingmapa and Drukpa Kagyupa sects, many
paintings depict the spiritual lineage of these two
sects, as well as the different religious and
temporal Drukpa rulers of Bhutan (Zhabdrungs, Desis
and Je Khenpos). |
