Pauva
Rediscovering Nepal’s Heritage

Ajaya N. Mali

A few weeks ago, Nepal Bhasha Academy, an NGO committed to reviving Nepalbhasa and Nepal Mandala’s artistic culture, organized an exhibition of pauva scroll paintings in the Nepal Art Council Gallery at Babar Mahal.

For lovers of traditional art, it was Valhalla, where 102 diverse works by 74 living artists involved in this traditional Nepalese Buddhist art style were put on display, but for many of us not familiar with it, it was an eye-opener into an ancient Nepalese visual art form, believed by experts till recently to be close to dying.

What is a pauva?

Because the term ‘pauva’ has come into frequent use only recently, one may not be sure of its meaning. Its meaning in Nepalbhasa is literally, pau (sheet), on which a baha (monastery) has been painted. It is very similar to the Tibetan thanka and, like its Tibetan counterpart, is a symbolic painting style in which Buddhist and Hindu deities, meditative geometric diagrams and religious icons are depicted on canvas or paper on the basis of religious rules.

Pauva vis-à-vis the Thanka

Because the two styles look similar, most people familiar with the term ‘pauva’ take it as the Nepalese synonym for the thanka. Shops in tourist areas today sell both of them as the latter. This is unfortunate because although it uses canvass and colour preparation techniques and follows religious principles and iconography similar to those of the Tibetan school, pauva is distinct from its Tibetan counterpart.

At its traditional best, it is considered superior in technical details, colouring and facial and postural expressions. The mythological stories, symbols, gods and cultural motifs reflect the cultural life of Nepal Mandala and South Asia and display a striking Nepalese character that one can easily differentiate from the other school. Red is the predominant colour accompanied by blue, gold, indigo and green, in contrast to the thanka, which uses brighter colours. Still, it excels in the aesthetic department. The lines are finer and the flowing strokes make the deities’ figures and gestures more realistic.

However, due to the strong influence of the thanka in modern times, most specimens of contemporary pauva borrow heavily from it, and even display Chinese images and styles present in it.

Pauva’s history

The pauva is as ancient as the other art forms of Nepal Mandala. It might come as a pleasant surprise to many that it existed inside Nepal Mandala for centuries before it travelleded to Tibet at around 8th to 10th century AD. There, the Tibetans added elements from Chinese, Kashmir and other Central Asian styles, transforming it into the thanka.

The painters’caste group in Nepal Mandala, the Chitrakars – called "Puns" in Nepalbhasa – proudly inform us that they have painted pauvas in Vihars (monasteries) and for the common people to use during religious sacraments and worship since as long ago as the early Licchavi period, if not earlier. To give one example, the Charumati Vihar, now called Cha-bahi, to the west of Pashupati, has seen the brush strokes of these traditional artists adorn the drapes of its agam-chhen (house of the deity) since as early as the 3rd century AD.

At around the 8th century, it got its present name and like other Nepalese Buddhist practices, travelledled subsequently across the Himalayas. It may be interesting to note that Tibetan annals also credit the mythical Nepalese princess Bhrikuti with bringing Nepalese artists with her upon her marriage to Sron Tsan Gampo. In that age, Nepalese paintings had reached a high level of excellence as is evident from the Chinese annals in which Chinese travelledlers to Nepal heaped generous praise on Nepalese art.

Neglect of the pauva began during the final decades of the Malla period when the Valley suffered from financial difficulties and patronage diminished. The conquest of Nepal by the Shah dynasty did not bring about a reversal in the pauva’s fortunes. Trade and cultural contact were already bringing Tibetan elements gradually into the Nepalese painting. On top of this, the demand for thankas in Tibet encouraged the Nepalese artists to paint them instead, precipitating the influence of Tibetan and Chinese schools in the Valley. Since then, the state of the pauva has deteriorated to such an extent that, in recent times, experts have worried that the original Nepalese style may eventually die.

But this does not look likely in view of the large number of young artists participating in the exhibition, as more than half of the 74 artists are 35 years of age or below. For this new generation, this exhibition has provided an opportunity to study and compare the creations of peers as well as the masters.

Although all of them are Newars, in terms of ethnicity, the artists represent a wide spectrum of communities – from Shesyah to Jyapu – exemplifying the present-day society’s departure from the old caste-wise allocation of professions, and the pauva is no longer the monopoly of the Chitrakars. Even Khas, Tamang and other ethnic groups have shown interest although their numbers are very low.

How Pauva is created

The pauva is created on canvas that has been stretched on a frame and its surface smeared with an adhesive paste of chalk powder, and then dried and polished. The colours are prepared from minerals and plants and need to be of the highest quality. The artist creates images of Buddhist or Hindu deities or of meditational geometric patterns on the basis of rules provided in the texts.

The principal deity occupies the centre of the canvass and assumes a larger size than the secondary ones. The artist may choose the background colours and patterns, but not the complexions of the deities. This rule also applies to the body postures and ornaments. Because the gods and goddesses represent different states of consciousness or causal manifestations, their complexions, facial expressions and body postures have specific meanings.

For example, if a deity has a red complexion, it means the element of fire is dominant in him/her. Similarly, blue, white, green and yellow are used to indicate the elements of sky, water, earth and air respectively.

Reviving the pauva

As efforts to revive the pauva continue, those involved need to ponder seriously over some important issues.

First of all, the meaning of the term ‘pauva’ needs to be clearly defined. Should it be the Nepalese synonym for the thanka or should it represent only scroll paintings having a truly Nepalese character? If it is to stand for the former, we can accept the present Tibetanization and Chino-ization trends and stay content with simply getting more artists to paint it. But if it is to be truly "Nepalese", art experts need to help the artists bring back the style as it existed in the past. This is vital because Newarologists today maintain the style to be distinct from all the others even though most contemporary pauva creations easily betray strong external influences and do not assert a unique identity. Reviving its unique, traditional character will mean keeping alive one important part of Nepal’s artistic heritage.

The issue of expositions comes next. In order to popularize the art form, the pauva needs to go beyond the Newar milieu and into the other ethnic groups. Exhibitions need to be supplemented with campaigns to educate people of its historical and religious importance so that it may become much more than collector’s items. For example, the Khas and other Hindu/Buddhist ethnic groups would certainly start using pauvas during sacraments like the Newars if they learnt of their religious significance.

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