What a jewel this was after the rough road and dilapidation of the surroundings - it looked like a little piece of Japan, which had come to land accidentally in Northern India.
The Norbilingka Institute was designed by a Japanese architect and consisted of a collection of buildings, with the Buddhist Temple set at the highest point - the head of a plan based on the body of a many armed Buddhist God. The Tibetan guide led me up a pathway over a little bridge with ponds, full of fish, on either side - an air of serenity prevailed...the Institute had been established to preserve Tibetan culture.
Climbing some stone stairs, we entered the first workroom where the famous Thangka paintings were being produced. 'The artists come from Tibet - they have escaped over the mountains and we give them 3 years of expert tuition in the art of Thangka painting: tson-tang and go-tang, applique work on fabric, depicting the life of Buddha,' he explained.
The artists sat on cushions, with a low table in front of them - all were bent upon their work and barely looked up. The designs are drawn first and then transferred to the canvas, which is prepared, much as a panel was prepared, during the Renaissance. The designs are then painted onto the surface.
The applique work, in a different workroom, was carried out with painstakingly tiny stitches - even individual jewels for a throne, had been cut from fabric and intricately stitched, to create a shimmering effect.
Downstairs the sculptors were creating designs out of wood or beating copper sheets into huge representations of Buddha.
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