Asian Art Resource Room

Deities Descend in Cities

The term derives from Pata, meaning a Buddhist picture painted on cloth in the Newar language, a type of painting featuring Buddhist and Hindu subjects painted by Newar artists, indigenous to the Kathmandu valley region of Nepal. Its origin goes back to the 11th century and while developing its own particular style and influencing the establishment of Tibetan Thangka (depictions of deities on cloth), it continues to develop independently to this day. Originally devotional religious pieces, the painter caste Chitrakar were entrusted with their production. Today, however, Paubha painters are based in the cities of Kathmandu, Patan and Bhaktapur and many artists outside of the Chitrakar caste supply the collector and tourist market. Whereas natural mineral pigments were used in the past, now many are completed with cheap poster paints. The artist Udaya Charan Shrestha (1964–) uses oil paints for his dazzling and often voluptuous Hindu goddesses.