What is a Thangka painting?

The Tibetan word Thangka means an unfolding painting, where the word Thang stands for an unfolding scroll and Ka means a painting. Thangka paintings, as a whole, are a visual representation of Buddhist deities, scenes, or mandalas, painted on silk or cotton canvas. 

Thangka Paintings follow a generic principle of composition, design, and iconography. It is made following tradition and guidelines while leaving spaces for personal creativity and expression. In Buddhist culture, Thangka Paintings hold high religious values. In a way, it is also a tool that facilitates the realization of one's true nature or the nature of reality

In Ritual Thangka, we provide a collection of a variety of Thangka paintings. Every one of our paintings has been hand-picked by our curators. We take great care in scrutinizing all aspects, from the quality of the thangka cloth to its composition, so that you get only the finest quality paintings.

Rare Fine Masterpiece Quality - The bodhisattva with Horse Head:

The “horse-headed Kannon” is considered Protector of Animals. He is the only manifestation of Kannon that shows rage. Batō Kannon is also one of the warlike and wrathful deities of Esoteric Buddhism; in this role, the deity is known as Batō Myō-ō.

As typical, Batō Kannon is here depicted capped by the horse head and flame-haired, with three eyes, three heads, and eight arms. He expresses anger with his wide-open eyes and open mouth. The primary hands make the gesture of bakô-in (“mudra of the horse mouth”), pressing together the palms with the index and ring fingers bent and the rest of his fingers extended). In his other hands, he holds a sacred wheel and a rosary, while a staff, a lotus flower, and a sword or an ax are missing. The legs on this sculpture are rather unusual, with the lotus position instead of the more common anraku-za (relaxed position). The lotus pedestal mounted over a tall base is of good quality, with petals individually carved, and incorporates a round mandorla carved with clouds.

In the Edo period, Batō came to be worshiped as a protector of horses due to his iconography and his role as savior of those in the realm of animals. Many remaining stone statues of Batō were once set in place to protect travelers and their horses from injury on dangerous paths.

Well-known examples dating from the Kamakura period include the standing statues in Kanzeonji, Joururiji, and Nakayamaji. The similarities of our figure to these famous examples suggest it had been made in the area of Kyoto.

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Size: 8"/ 20 cm (width) x 16"/ 40 cm (height)
Materials: Cotton Canvas, Acrylic Colors, Genuine 24K Gold
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THIS THANGKA IS HAND-PAINTED IN THE TRADITIONAL STYLE AND THE QUALITY IS HIGH

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Framing:
-Not mounted on a traditional brocade
-Tibetan Silk brocade is available in a variety of colors and quality
-Price ranges from $35 to $100 depending upon the silk quality
-Additional 3 business days for this service
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Delivery:

-Free Shipping
-Standard Courier Services
-4-10 business days for delivery
-All items are insured
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Return Policy:
-Returns are accepted within 60 business days.
-You can ship either to Nepal or Texas (USA), whichever works better for you.
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We will be more than happy to answer all your questions.
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Please contact us to:
- Custom order a thangka of any Vajrayana deity. Usually, it takes 2-5 months (depending on complexity) to finish such a thangka of average size.