Himalayan Art: Glossary

A

Abhidharmakosha: a Buddhist text of the 4th-5th century composed by the scholar Vasubandhu. Detailed explanations of Buddhist cosmology serve as the basis for the painting subjects Wheel of Life, Mount Meru Offering (mandala) and the Rebirth Game.

Acharya (Sanskrit term): a Buddhist monastic religious title applied to scholars and academics. It is the most common honorific title used for teachers such as Nagarjuna, Asanga, Dharmakirti and others. In Tibetan the term is lobpon.

Afghanistan: in ancient times the region was known as Gandhara, 2nd century B.C. to the 6th century A.D. (See Gandharan Art).

Altar: a raised flat surface for the purpose of offering up sacrifice as part of a religious activity. The word is sometimes used in Hinduism but almost never used with reference to Buddhism.

Amdo Painting Styles: (see Rebkong).

Amulets (Tibetan: tog chag. English: lightning metal): small metal objects thought to be created in the ground by lightning striking the earth. Some objects are recognizable and others are in abstract shapes. Old garment clasps, book buckles, bits and pieces of horse bridles, etc., are all gathered together under this one term.

Anthropomorphic: applying human-like features to animals and inanimate objects. (Examples: manuscript pages, Elephant-headed God, Lion-faced Goddess).

Applique:

Apsara: (Skt.) an Apsara is a class of minor female heavenly beings commonly portrayed as decorative elements in art, often depicted as flying in the sky.

Arhat (Skt.) (Tibetan: ne tan): Buddhist saints representing the earliest followers of the Buddha, always found in a group of sixteen, they are often painted on cloth, murals, and constructed of metal, stone and wood. In China they are called lohan and are commonly referred to as a group of eighteen or five hundred.

Artist Sketchbook:

Asana (Skt.): seated or standing postures of which there are a variety of prescribed forms arising from iconographic descriptions found in religious texts.

Astrological Chart:

Atelier: the workplace of a particular artist, and more commonly thought of as a school when including the artist's students.

Attribute: a symbolic object associated with a particular subject based on well known examples and textual iconography.

Attribution: referring to the author of a particular work either from a signature or inscription, a provenance extending back to the production of the work, or conclusive evidence based on style, iconography, etc.

Aureola: the circle of light surrounding the head of a spiritual figure.

Avadana Stories: narratives of the previous lives of the Buddha Shakyamuni and close students, illustrated in sets of paintings or as manuscript illuminations. The common literary source is the Bodhisattvavadanakalpata of Kshemendra, 11th century, Kashmir).

Avatar: the Ten Avatar, incarnations, of the Hindu god Vishnu are divided into four periods of time - ages of the world. In the first age are the Fish, Tortoise, Boar and Man-lion incarnations. In the second age are the Dwarf, Rama with an Axe and Rama of the Ramayana Epic. For the third age is Krishna. The fourth age is represented by the Buddha and Kalki. Kalki has yet to come.

B

Balri Painting Style: inspired by the Newar Artists of Kathmandu Valley, using bright colours, detailed ornamentation and making full use of the entire canvas. This style was popular in Southern Tibet and with the Sakya and Ngor monasteries.

Bhutan:

Black Ground Painting:

Binder: the medium in which pigments are suspended in a solution in order to be applied (as paint) to a surface.

Blockprints: a woodcut image in a relief technique where the image is left raised and what is not carved is printed.

Blue Vaidurya Medical Paintings: a set of 80 paintings illustrating the famous medical text known as the Four Tantras (Tib.: gyu shi), designed and commissioned by Desi Sangye Gyatso (1653-1705), regent of the 5th Dalai Lama.

Bodhisattva (Tib.: jang chub sem pa): idealized beings in the appearance of youthful heavenly gods, generally male and richly attired in silks and jewels. They represent the principal students of the Buddha according to the Mahayana Sutras of Northern Buddhism. Click here for full definition.

Bon Religion: the indigenous religion of Tibet and the Himalayan regions, founded by Tonpa Shenrab of Tazik, Central Asia.

Book Cover: carved wooden boards, often decoratively carved and painted, serving as the top and bottom protective covers for folio manuscripts and block printed books.

Book Illustration: commonly referred to as illuminated manuscript pages.

Brocade: silk textiles of Indian or Chinese origin, often with elaborate design, used to frame the borders of cloth paintings.

Bronze Sculpture:

Buddha: often referring to the historical Shakyamuni Buddha, however in the Mahayana Sutras (religious texts) there are many other buddhas. The Tantric texts describe in detail the various appearances of these buddhas.

Buddhist Religion: the philosophy, or way of life, taught in India by Gautama Siddhartha in the 5th century B.C. Buddhism has been a major influence on the creation of art in all of asia.

Butter Sculpture: molded into a variety of shapes and intricately coloured, they can stand 10 to 15 feet tall, and serve as elaborate ritual food offerings during religious and harvest festivals. The most elaborate of these are found in Amdo, northeastern Tibet.

C

Carving: (stone and wood)

Chaitya (Sanskrit): a Buddhist funerary mound made of stone, a metal or clay reliquary, and a ritual object symbolically representing the mind of complete enlightenment.

Chart: technical paintings, drawings and blockprints dealing with the subjects of protection, astrology and medicine.

China:

Chorten (Tibetan): a Buddhist funerary mound made of stone, a metal or clay reliquary, and a ritual object symbolically representing the mind of complete enlightenment.

Choying Dorje, 10th Karmapa (1604-1674): a famous painter and sculptor influenced by Chinese styles of the time. Examples of his work exist today. (See Karmapa).

Composition: the arrangement of elements in a painting.

Conservation: the practice of attempting to keep a work of art in its original condition by using non-interventionist methods.

Continuous Narrative, continuous representation: a pictorial narrative device involving the representation of successive episodes from the same story within a single picture and against a unified background. The main characters are repeated in each scene and therefore need to be immediately recognizable. This device is common in Himalayan art and examples can be found in the Avadana Stories and the Milarepa biographical paintings.

D

Dakini: female spirits, witches and deities.

Dalai Lama: The Dalai Lama tradition belongs to a system of recognized re-embodiments. Today, the current Dalai Lama Tenzin Gyatso is the fourteenth in the line. Since the mid-seventeenth century the Dalai Lamas have ruled over Tibet.

Deity:

Dharmapala: Buddhist protectors, deities that are entrusted with the role of protection for both the religion and the followers. There are two classes, [1] enlightened protectors (jnanapala) and [2] worldly protectors (lokapala).

Direct Carving, modelling.

Direction Guardians: the four heavenly kings residing on the lower slopes of the four sided mythical mount Meru, the center of the idealized Buddhist and Hindu worlds.

Distemper: a water based paint.

Donor: an individual, family, or group of people responsible for commissioning an artwork. It is common in Nepalese and Tibetan paintings to find the donors of the painting depicted at the bottom right or left corner of a painting.

Dough Sculpture (Tibetan: torma. Sanskrit: balimta): torma are cone shaped ritual food offerings sculpted in a variety of shapes and sizes, coloured and then adorned with flat circular 'buttons' made from butter.

Drawing, Drawing Book: (see Sketchbook).

Dunhuang: a location in Western China famous for cave temples, murals, Buddhist images and rare texts dating back to the 8th century. (See International Dunhuang Project).

E

Embroidery: ornamental stichwork applied to any fabric using any kind of thread.

Enlightened Protector: a Buddhist term, the first of the two types of Dharmapala; protectors that are wrathful emanations of the buddhas, fully enlightened beings. Examples: Mahakala and Shri Devi).

Epigraphy: the study of inscriptions. Many stone and metal sculptures have inscriptions written along the base. Tibetan paintings often have verses of blessing written on the back and very occaissionally they will have names of donors or the person an artwork was intended for. Narrative and portrait paintings often have name inscriptions on the front written beneath each figure. Nepalese paintings typically place inscriptions in a bottom register and also date the work. Example: back of a painting.

F

Feet and Hand Paintings: paintings containing the hand or foot prints of notable religious teachers. This is commonly found in the Kagyu Schools and based on a text written by Pagmodrupa in the 12th century explaining the technique and efficacy of creating such paintings. Stone carvings and paintings of the idealized feet of the historical Buddha Shakyamuni can be found throughout Asia.

Forgery:

Fresco: a word sometimes used to describe the murals of the Himalayan regions. (See Murals).

G

Gandhara: an ancient kingdom in the present day regions of northern Afghanistan and Pakistan, flourishing between the 2nd century B.C. and the 6th century A.D. (See Gandharan Art).

Gandharan Art: the art of Gandhara, predominantly Buddhist stone sculpture, terra cotta and stucco.

Garuda: both a mythical creature and a deity, half man and half bird, found in the Hindu, Bon and Buddhist religions.

Gelugpa School of Tibetan Buddhism (also known as the Ganden School, and New Kadampa): founded by Tsongkhapa in the early 15th century. It was very active in promoting the monastic system and creating very large monasteries that housed thousands of monks.

Gesso:

Gilding: the process of covering a surface with gold leaf.

Gilt: the application of gold onto a cast metal sculpture.

God:

Goddess:

Gold Ground Painting:

Gouache: opaque water colours, a common western term used to describe the paints used in Himalayan painting.

Ground: the primary paint layer applied to the canvas or cotton cloth of a painting.

Gupta Period (380-415):

Guru: religious teacher or preceptor in South Asia. For Vajrayana Buddhism the term is specifically used for a Tantric teacher. The titles of acharya or kalyanamitra are used for Sutrayana, or ordinary, religious teachers.

H

Hagiography:

Halo: (see Aureola).

Hand and Feet Paintings: paintings containing the hand or foot prints of notable religious teachers. This is commonly found in the Kagyu Schools and based on a text written by Pagmodrupa in the 12th century explaining the technique and efficacy of creating such paintings. Stone carvings and paintings of the idealized feet of the historical Buddha Shakyamuni can be found throughout Asia.

Himalaya: the large mountain range of Northern India, Nepal, Bhutan and Pakistan that was formed when the Indian sub-continent plate joined the Asian continent.

Himalayan Art: the definition of Himalayan Art is art indigenous to the Himalayas and surrounding regions, predominantly concerned with religious subjects and recognizable through the unique use of composition, symbols and motifs. Individual works of art are commonly created in sets forming much larger works of art. The geographic area of the Himalayas and surrounding regions comprises; North India, Nepal, Bhutan, Historical Tibet, Mongolia, China, Buryiat and South-Eastern Russia (Siberia).

Himalayan Buddhism: the form of Buddhism practiced in the country of Bhutan.

Himavat:

Hindu Religion:

I

Iconography: the study and identification of portraits, along with the subject matter of an artwork.

Iconographic Source Texts:

Iconometry: the geometric rules, drawing guides and measurements used in the creation of correctly proportioned figures in Himalayan art.

Illuminated Manuscript: miniature paintings, often figures or narrative scenes, used to decorate the pages of books.

Illustration: a picture in a book intended to accompany a text.

Impasto: raised surfaces on a painting giving an effect of three dimensionality, generally used for ornamentation such as crowns and jewelry.

In Situ: in its original place. A term referring to artworks in their original location where the artwork was intended to be placed or kept.

Indian Adept (Skt.: maha siddha): the great Hindu and Buddhist Tantric practitioners of medieval India.

Indian Scholar (Skt.: acharya, pandita): a term referring to scholars in general (acharya) and to those engaged in debate and disputation (pandita).

Initiation Cards (Tib.: tsag li): small paintings, generally the size of playing cards, created in sets and used in Buddhist and Bon rituals and initiations, containing illustrations of deities, animals, objects, and abstract images.

Inlay:

Inscriptions: (see Epigraphy).

Ishtadevata:

Ivory:

K

Karmapa: The Karmapas are a line of successive teachers aknowledged as the first lineage of reincarnating lamas in Tibetan Buddhism. The main seat of the Karmapa is Tsurpu Monastery, north-west of Lhasa, and the specific tradition is known as the Kamtsang Kagyu (Karma Kagyu).

Kashmir:

Kagyu School of Tibetan Buddhism: comprised of four major and eight minor branches.

Karma Gadri Painting Style:

Kathmandu Valley Painting Style:

Khatvanga: a symbolic staff, carried in the left arm by tantric Buddhist deities, representing the consort.

Kesi:

Kings:

Kirtimukha (English: the face of glory): the face of a mythical creature often found in Newar wood sculpture.

Krishna: a form of the Hindu god Vishnu. Krishna almost always appears youthful and blue of colour, surrounded by adoring girls.

Kubera: referring to a wealth god, a proper name used in old Indian texts for Vaishravana, the guardian king of the north. The name Kubera is also used for various attendant figures found in the mandalas of Vaishravana, Jambhala, Vasudhara and others. The word Kubera is almost never found in Tibetan language texts.

Kushan Period:

Kyenri Painting Style:

Kyentse Wangchug:

L

Lacquer: Lac

Lama: (see Guru).

Landscape Format:

Languages of the Himalayas and Central Asia:

Lineage:

Linga: an idealized phallus usually constructed of metal or stone and used in the ritual worship of the Hindu god Shiva.

Lohan: (see Arhat).

Lost Wax Technique:

Lotus: the lotus flower (padma) is a common motif in Himalayan art.

Luohan: (see Arhat).

Lokapala: worldly protector or guardian; in Buddhism, a lesser deity that has not yet reached complete enlightenment. (See Worldly Protector).

M

Mahakala: the principal enlightened protector and wrathful deity of Tantric Buddhism.

Mahasiddha: (See Indian Adept).

Mahayana Buddhism (Great Vehicle): the Buddhism of Northern India, the Himalayas, China and East Asia.

Makara: a mythical sea creature having a snout like an elephant and the body like an alligator.

Mala:

Mandala: a circular diagram, highly technical and precise, representing the entire universe; the container and contained, animate and inanimate. Mandalas are painted on cloth, on the ceilings of temples, as murals, fashioned from metal, wood or stone, sometimes coloured threads and also from coloured sand.

Manla Dondrub: (see Mantangpa).

Mantangpa, Manla Dondrub (15th century): founder of the Menri painting school.

Manuscript Page: (see Illuminated Manuscript).

Masks:

Medium: referring to the liquid used to suspend the paint pigment.

Medical Painting: (see Blue Vaidurya).

Menri Painting Style: (New and Old)

Metal Sculpture:

Ming Dynasty:

Miniature:

Mithuna, Maithuna (Tib.: yab yum): tantric deities in physical embrace.

Modelling: in painting, the use of light and shade to give the effect of three dimensionality on a two dimensional surface.

Molded Clay Image (Tib.: tsa tsa): stamped clay, images typically of Buddhist deities, or stupas, stamped from a mold. The clay sometimes contains the ashes of the deceased.

Mongolia:

Mongolian Buddhism: the name of the form of Buddhism practiced in Mongolia.

Mount: the brocade or textile frame surrounding a cloth painting.

Mountain Deity: (See Machen Pomra, Tashi Tseringma and Werma Nyenya).

Mudra: hand gestures, part of a highly symbolic religious language.

Murals: any type of painting directly applied to a wall, painted on cloth and then glued to a wall, or painted on wood and fastened to a wall.

N

Naga: mythical serpentine creature appearing as human or snake, or both together with a human torso above and a coiled snakes tail below. They inhabit the regions beneath the earth and the oceans.

Nagaland:

Narrative Painting:

Nepal:

Naxi (Nakhi): a minorities people of China centered in the city of Lijiang and surrounding areas. They have a unique culture, language and written script. A form of Tibetan Buddhism and the Bon religion are practiced amongst other belief systems.

Nepalese Painting Style in Tibet: inspired by the Newar Artists of Kathmandu Valley, using bright colours, detailed ornamentation and making full use of the entire canvas. This style was popular in Southern Tibet and with the Sakya and Ngor monasteries.

Newar:

Ngor Paintings:

Nimbus: (see Aureola).

Nyingma School of Tibetan Buddhism: the oldest of the four main schools, established with the founding of Samye Chokor Ling monastery in the 8th century by Padmasambhava and Shantirakshita. Nyingma means old, or ancient, and differs from the other three schools, Sakya, Kagyu and Gelug, in a number of ways. The three later schools are collectively called the Sarma schools, meaning new. A significant characteristic of the Nyingma is that it is anarchic with no central authority. All of the other schools have a clear authority and hierarchy.

P

Padma: lotus flower, a common motif in Himalayan art.

Padmasambhava (Tib.: Guru Rinpoche): the Indian founder of Tantric Buddhism in Tibet. In the 11th century with the rise of the Revealed Treasure tradition (Tib.: terma) the worship of Padmasambhava took on cult status. Hundreds of new deity forms of Padmasambhava were created representing all aspects of iconography and Tantric activity; peaceful, wrathful, male, female, wealth, power, healing, etc.

Painting:

Pakistan:

Pala Period:

Panchen Lama: closely associated with the Dalai Lamas and the monastery of Tashi Lhunpo, the Panchen Lamas are a line of successively re-incarnating teachers in Tibetan Buddhism. The first Panchen Lama, Lobzang Chokyi Gyaltsen, was the tutor of the 5th Dalai Lama and the most important Gelugpa teacher of his time.

Pandita (Sanskrit): a Tibetan Buddhist term used to describe either an Indian scholar that assisted, along with a Tibetan scholar, in the translating of Sanskrit texts into the Tibetan language, or a Tibetan scholar that translates Sanskrit into Tibetan. (See example: Sakya Pandita and Indian Scholar).

Parma: (Printed Images - painted).

Pastiche:

Pastiglia: (see Impasto).

Pastose: (see Impasto).

Pata: an Indian painting on cloth.

Patina, Patination: referring to the surface colour of bronze and metal sculpture as it has oxidized over time. The term is also used for surface discolouration of other types of objects.

Paubha: a painting on cloth. The Nepalese version of an Indian pata and a Tibetan tangka.

Perspective:

Petroglyphs:

Picchavai: narrative paintings portryaing the life of the Hindu god Krishna, a form of Vishnu.

Pictograph:

Pigment: the colouring agent in paint. Paint is pigment suspended in a medium.

Pointillism:

Portrait Format:

Portraiture:

Prayer Flag: a printed image on cotton cloth intended to hang in the wind, containing Buddhist prayers and mantras, images of deities and animals. Some flags are printed on paper.

Prayer Wheel

Print, Prints, Printed Image:

Proportion: in painting or sculpture, the relationship between the constituent parts one to another, or any of the parts to the whole. In Himalayan art proportion is moderated by the relatively strict use of iconometry. (See Iconometry).

Protective Talisman: (see Chart).

Protector:

Provenance: referring to the prior ownership and history of an artwork.

Purana: Indian Sanskrit texts often the source for the study and iconographic descriptions of Hindu gods and deities.

Purba (Tibetan term. Sanskrit: kila): a peg, shaped like a three bladed dagger, a ritual object represented three dimensionally in metal, wood or crystal; for pegging down disturbances and obstacles arising in the practice of Tantric Buddhism.

Pureland:

R

Raksha/Rakshasi: dangerous male and female spirits and daemons of classical Indian literature. Their fearsome appearance became the model for wrathful Buddhist deities such as Mahakala, characterized by round bulbous red eyes, gaping slathering mouths with large bared canine teeth, flaming hair, large bellied and thick limbed.

Rebkong Painting Style:

Red Ground Painting:

Relief, Relief Sculpture: a stone or wood sculpture with the details standing above a carved flat background.

Reliquary: (stupa, chaitya).

Repousse: sculpture or decoration hammered into relief from the reverse side of a metal.

Restoration of Artworks: restoring a worn, damaged or aged artwork to its ...

Revealed Treasure (Tib.: ter ma):

Rock Carving:

Rock Painting: (See petroglyphs).

S

Sakya School of Tibetan Buddhism:

Sand Mandala: .

Sanskrit Language:

Schist: sandstone of various colours, grey, etc., commonly used in the creation of Gandharan art.

Sculpture:

Shangpa Kagyu School of Tibetan Buddhism: founded by Kedrup Kyungpo Naljor in the 11th century, although having the same name, this school is unrelated to the Kagyu School descending from Marpa, Milarepa and Gampopa.

Shaiva: a religion of India (Hindu) that holds the god Shiva in highest reverence. He is typically portrayed in a benevolent form, as a white or ashen skinned yogi, with the hair in a topknot and a trident (trishula) stuck in the ground at the side. In his malevelent form he is known as Bhairava, dark coloured, rakshasa-like, fearsome looking and often with many heads and arms.

Shakti: a female consort of a male deity found in Hindu Tantric art. This term is not used for Buddhist Tantric art.

Shiva: the principal god of the Shaiva Religion of Hinduism. There are many iconographic similarities between Shiva and various Buddhist deities such as Avalokiteshvara and Chakrasamvara. (See Shiva Bhairava).

Shakti:

Shri Devi:

Shrine:

Siddha: (see Indian Adept).

Situ Panchen Chokyi Jungne (1700-1774):

Sketch:

Sketchbook:

Stone Sculpture:

Stucco:

Stupa: a Buddhist funerary mound made of stone, a metal or clay reliquary, and a ritual object symbolically representing the mind of complete enlightenment.

Support:

Sutra: Indian Buddhist texts, often written in Pali or Sanskrit language, the iconographic source for images of Shakyamuni Buddha, the bodhisattvas and Arhats.

Swastika: meaning auspicious in the Sanskrit language. When turning to the left it is the principal religious symbol of the Bon and Jain religions. For the Bon a right turning swastika has no meaning. Several Bon historical figures and deities hold a single swastika, or a double swastika scepter. For the Buddhists it is a decorative element occasionally having a more specific meaning within a localized Tantric context.

T

Taglung Painting Style:

Taglung Kagyu School of Tibetan Buddhism:

Tangka: a Himalayan painting executed on cloth or paper.

Tantra: meaning continuum, a genre of Hindu and Buddhist religious literature.

Tathagata (Tib.: de shin sheg pa. English: Thus Gone One): a general term of respect for all buddhas, having gone, passed beyond cyclic existence.

Tempera:

Terma:

Terra cotta:

Textile: Applique, Brocade, Kesi, Woven (weaving), Embroidery.

Theravada:

Tibet:

Tibetan Buddhism: a term commonly used to refer to all forms of Tantric Buddhism of the Himalayas, Central Asia, Mongolia, Siberia, etc. (See Himalayan Buddhism, Mongolian Buddhism).

Tibetan Language:

Tonpa Shenrab: the founder of the Bon Religion, from Tazik, Central Asia.

Torana: the elaborate backrest surrounding the central Buddha subject of paintings and sculpture.

Torma (Skt.: bali): dough sculpture, cone shaped and sometimes elaborately decorated and coloured, used as stylized food offerings in Bon and Buddhist rituals and initiations.

Tribal Art:

Tsa Tsa: stamped clay images, molded clay.

Tsagli (Sanskrit term): small paintings, generally the size of playing cards, created in sets and used in Buddhist and Bon rituals and initiations, containing illustrations of deities, animals, objects, and abstract images.

Tsangri Painting Style:

Tushita Heaven:

V

Vaidurya: the Sanskrit word for a type of precious or semi-precious stone, commonly used with reference to lapis lazuli, blue saphire, or blue beryl.

Vaishnava: a religion of India (Hindu) that holds the god Vishnu in highest reverence. He has many different forms and is best known through his ten emanations (avatars), one of which is Krishna and another the Buddha. Some of his forms are comparable to the tantric forms of the Buddhist deities Avalokiteshvara and Amoghapasha.

Vajra (Tibetan: dor je. English: the best stone): [1] from the Vedic literature, the scepter of the Hindu god Indra namely a lightening bolt, [2] from the Puranic literature, a weapon made from the bones of a rishi, and [3] a word representing Tantric Buddhism - Vajrayana. As a Buddhist scepter it is a small object made of metal generally having five or nine prongs at each end that bend inward to form two rounded shapes. As a ritual object it is usually accompanied by a bell with a half vajra handle (Sanskrit: ghanta).

Vajravali: a famous Buddhist initiation and meditation manual that describes the form and function of mandalas along with detailed descriptions of the deities they contain.

Vajrayana: Tantric Buddhism, the form of Northern Buddhism that relies primarily on the Tantras, technical manuals said to have been taught by the Buddha, and offer complete enlightenment in 1, 7 or 21 lifetimes.

Vishnu:

W

Wax Technique: Lost Wax Technique.

Wheel of Life: the Buddhist world view represented on cloth or painted as a mural, illustrating the six realms of existence, the twelve links of dependent arising and the three poisons.

White Vaidurya Astrological Paintings: various paintings based on the designs and descriptions from the White Vaidurya Astrological text of Desi Sangye Gyatso (1653-1705), regent of the 5th Dalai Lama.

Wish-fulfilling Jewel:

Wood Cut:

Wood Sculpture:

Wooden Book Cover: (see Book Cover).

Worldly Protector: a Buddhist term used to differentiate between different types of protector deities; the guardian kings of the four main directions, the ten protectors of the eight directions, above and below, along with regional and mountain deities.

Woven Tangka:

Y

Yaksha/Yakshi: male and female nature spirits of India, of classical Indian literature and folk beliefs.

Yuan Dynasty:

Z
Zhang Zhung: an ancient Bonpo kingdom in west Tibet located near Mount Kailash.

Zhang Zhung Language: the ancient language of the Zhang Zhung region and the Bon religion.

Bibliographic Sources:

The Bulfinch Guide to Art History. General Editor Shearer West. A Bulfinch Press Book, Little, Brown and Company, 1996.

A History of Tibetan Painting. David Jackson. Verlag Der Osterreichischen Akademe Der Wissenschafften, 1996.

Tibetan Religious Art. Part I and II, by Loden Sherab Dagyab. Otto Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden, 1977.

Tibetan Thangka Painting, Methods & Materials. David and Janice Jackson. Snow Lion Publications, 1984.