Tibetan Tourist Thangkas in the Kathmandu Valley

Annnl.r ofTourism Research, Vol. 20, pp. 107-137, 1993 0160-7383/93 $6.00 + .OO Printed in the USA. All rights reserved. Copyright 0 1993 Pergamon Press Ltd. TIBETAN TOURIST THANGKAS IN THE KATHMANDU VALLEY Yael Bentor Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel Abstract: This case study of Tibetan tourist thangkas in the Kathmandu Valley stresses the historical and cultural background essential for understanding the specific modes of commercialization of sacred art. The specific circumstances under which the tourist thangka market developed led to the existence of an “intermediate audience” located between the “internal” and “external audiences” typical of most tourist markets. This “intermediate audience,” while introducing a slight shift of emphasis in the purpose of thangkas, promotes an adherence to tradition which has had an effect even on the tourist outlets. The producers of thangkas for the tourist market in the Kathmandu Valley are predominantly non-Tibetans who stage the authenticity of their paintings. Keywords: tourist art, thangka, Tibet, Tibetan Buddhism, Nepal, Navajo sandpaintings. R&urn& Les thangkas touristiques tibttains de la vallte de Katmandou. La presente Ctude de cas des thangkas touristiques tibttains dans la vallCe de Katmandou souligne le cadre historique et culturel, ce qui est essentiel pour comprendre les diff&entes faGons de commercialiser l’art sac&. Les circonstances dans lesquelles s’est dCvelopp6 le march6 des thangkas touristiques ont men6 B existence d’un public intermtdiaire entre les publics interne et externe qui typifient la plupart des marches touristiques. Ce public intermediaire, tout en provoquant une ltgtre modification B la signification des thangkas, favorise une adhesion ?I la tradition qui a eu son effet m&me sur les dtbouchCs touristiques. Les producteurs des thangkas touristiques dam la vallCe de Katmandou sont principalement des non-Tibttains qui montent l’authenticite de leurs peintures. Mots-cl&: art touristique, thangka, Tibet, bouddhisme tibCtain, N&pal, peintures de sable navajoes. INTRODUCTION A visitor to the main monuments of the Nepalese heritage is likely to find in adjoining tourist shops not Nepalese paintings but rather a variety of paintings called Tibetan thangkas. This paper is a case study of this phenomenon, which will be analyzed with reference to current theories of tourism and tourist art. The marketing of tourist thangkas in Nepal has already been described by Schempp (1987). His work, Yael Bentor teaches Tibetan culture and languages at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (Mt. Scopus 91905, Israel). She has visited Nepal four times, especially in 1987-89 when she conducted research for her Ph.D. dissertation on the Indo-Tibetan consecration ritual for s&pas and images. 107 108 TIBETAN TOURIST THANGKAS however, does not emphasize the historical and cultural circumstances, which are essential for understanding the specific processes in the commercialization of Tibetan thangkas and the rationalizations provided by Tibetans for the commercialization of their sacred objects, and which will be the focus of the present paper. The author is not a social scientist but a Tibetologist with an interest in Buddhist religiosity. As to the cultural background, Tibet became a literate culture in the 7th century, at approximately the same time as two other nations flanking the older civilizations of Eurasia: England and Japan. At that time, Tibet began to adopt the Buddhist religion in its Mahdybna Tantric (Vajraybna) form that then prevailed in northern India. Over the following centuries, the adoption of the new religion involved the systematic and accurate Tibetan translations of most Sanskritic Bud- dhist texts, then circulating in northern India, western China, and Central Asia. A brief decline occurred in the mid-9th century, but this was soon followed by a marked resurgence that led to the establishment of monastic centers of lasting significance, an increase in the number of Tibetan Buddhist teachers, a renewed dedication to the translation of scriptures and treatises from Indian languages, and a great increase in the number of original compositions by Tibetans. This situation only benefitted from the unfortunate decline of Buddhism in its countries of origin in India, in the 12th century. Until the 1959 takeover by the Chinese Peoples Liberation Army, Buddhism had a virtually uncontested reign over the hearts and minds of Tibetans, while “high” literary culture flourished -numerous works of poetry, drama, biography, history, as well as commentaries on Bud- dhist scriptures and treatises, were composed. Buddhist theories were subjected to thorough rethinking, tested with highly critical delibera- tion and debates, and further developed, often along lines that led to an increasing awareness of sectarian differences. Monastic religious practices, including meditations and rituals, were performed without break. In the 70s and early 8Os, when the US Library of Congress sponsored the printing of Tibetan books to be found in the Himalayan countries and in the possession of Tibetan refugees, approximately 5,000 separate volumes were published. While it may be an exaggeration to speak of Tibet’s remoteness and isolation, given its historical openness to ideas and cultural influences from the outside world (Miller 1988), there is some truth to this por- trait, if only in the 19th to 20th centuries, partially as an effect of official Manchu policy (Goldstein 1989). Then, in 1959, approximately 100,000 Tibetans who escaped the Chinese Communist takeover began to establish new communities in exile, mainly in India, but also in Nepal, Sikkim, and Bhutan (Avedon 1979184; Nowak 1984). During their first years, they were engaged in a daily struggle for survival, many of them finding work in road building, one of the most back- breaking and unremunerative occupations. In recent, years, the economic situation of many Tibetan refugees has improved dramatically, in part due to entrepreneurial jobs in the tourist-related businesses or, particularly in Nepal, in the carpet industry (Fiirer-Haimendorf 1989). Improvements in economic power have had their effects, as educa- tional institutions and monasteries are built, books published, and YAEL BENTOR 109 traditional customs, clothing, etc., preserved. These efforts are all part of a general attempt to preserve Tibetan culture. The recent destruc- tion in Tibet has supplied diaspora Tibetans with a sense of mission; they feel that they themselves are responsible for Tibetan cultural transmission and survival. It is this sense of mission that is, in great part, responsible for their success in the cultural revival, particularly in India and Nepal. The geographical area of this paper is Nepal. About 10,000 Tibetan refugees escaped to Nepal (Forbes 1989; Gombo 1985). A great deal of the Tibetan exile activity is concentrated in the Kathmandu Valley, especially around two sites traditionally held sacred by Tibetans, the Bodhanath, and Swayambhu Sttipas. In recent years, over two dozen new Tibetan monasteries have been built in the vicinity of these two monumental structures, perhaps the most visible indication of the Ti- betan cultural renaissance. Thangkas Made for Internal Use Thangkas are Tibetan scrolls depicting sacred subjects, primarily although not exclusively painted. Some especially valued thangkas may be made of a combination of embroidery and stitched or glued applique, while still others may be tapestries of handwoven silk or woodblock prints (Dagyab 1977:40). Tibetans traditionally conceive of these thangkas as embodiments of the enlightened being or reality (ye-shes-sem-dpa’). Throughout the centuries, thangkas played an im- portant role in the creation and transmission of religious sentiments and concepts. The internal consumers of thangkas in Nepal are both Tibetan pri- vate householders and individual monks, as well as monasteries as a whole. Installed in the temples and shrines of the newly built Tibetan monasteries in Nepal are images, wall paintings, thangkas, and other sacred objects, almost all made recently by traditional artists- exiled Tibetans, ethnic Tibetans residing in northern Nepal, or sometimes Bhutanese. Smaller images, thangkas and so forth are kept on family altars, which are found in virtually every Tibetan home. Thus, Ti- betan culture and traditional arts are a vital part of Tibetan life today in the Kathmandu Valley. It should be noted that the population of Tibet is composed of both sedentary and nomadic people, and the nomads, no less than village and city dwellers, kept thangkas hanging in their homes. Wrapped in silk, they were rolled and packed on animal backs with the rest of their household goods when they moved. Thus, though delicate, thangkas are traditionally portable, and were carried by wandering story tellers as well. In the West and, of course, among Western tourists, thangkas are most usually considered to be aids in meditative practices of Tibetan monks or yogis. Yet the great majority of thangkas painted for internal use are made for purposes other than meditation (Dagyab 1977:24- 27; Jackson and Jackson 1984:9-11). As the Tibetan author Dagyab writes on Tibetan religious art in general, “The most general reason for the making of new works was to create objects of worship in order 110 TIBETAN TOURIST THANGKAS to accumulate merit.” Thangkas and “ . images are made for a variety of purposes and not solely for use in meditation” (1977:28, 26). The key notion in

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