Himalayan Art Resources

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Carved wooden blocks are used to create multiple copies of prayer flags, banners, book pages, repetitions of mantras for prayer wheels, yantras and many other artistic, religious and ritual items. The most common use is for the production of book pages. Some of these pages also have drawings of figures, lineage teachers, and deities. A smaller number of block print publications are solely for documenting iconography and the images of multitudes of deities. Prayer flags are typically block print creations with the original designed by an artist. 'Parma' are block prints in the composition of a Tibetan 'tangka' scroll work painting or textile. The prints are made onto cloth and then painted with coloured pigments. Some examples are done on silk and left unpainted. The term 'parma' refers to the painted prints.

Jeff Watt [updated 3-2015, 7-2018, 3-2020]

(The images below are only a selection of examples from the links above).