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Thanka a hot potato; artisans can’t eat it
KATHMANDU, JUN 02 -
The attractive thangka or thanka, a traditional Buddhist hand painting on cotton cloth, sells at high prices in the market. Yet the artists who paint these thankas get infinitesmal wages for their labour.
Originally having religious values for followers of Buddhism, thankas with themes on images of Buddha’s, mandala designs, wheel of life designs and depiction of scenes, are selling worldwide from Nepal for a long time. The entrepreneurs sell thankas for as much as Rs. 1,000-2,00,000 per piece.
While the government has not ascertained the exact number of thanka artists All Nepal Trade Union Federation believes around 10,000 such artists are working at present in Nepal. The hands behind this art are struggling for a pitiful amount in return for their hard work. These artists get only Rs. 200-300 per day. They get Rs. 6000-9000 per month—33 times less than the market price of their labour.
“Thanka artists have to manage their livelihood as well as cost of painting materials within this amount,” said Ram Bahadur Tamang, an artist who has been painting thankas at Bhaktapur for the last 34 years. “We have conserved this art of the 14th century till now, but we are the most neglected aspect in our own sector.”
Forty-five-year-old Tamang also complained that because of his health problem it takes him at least five months of toil and patience to complete a perfect work of art. “We have to ignore our health problem as we do not have money for treatment,” said Tamang.
It costs a lot to make a thanka because thanka painting requires a certain quantity of gold compulsorily. Marking the current price of the gold, the artist has to pay NRs1200-1300 to use it in this handicraft.
Sixteeen-year-old Sumina Lama said she entered this profession to continue and promote her father’s traditional occupation. “Family environment brought me here but the economic condition of the workers is just as pathetic as in my father’s time,” said Lama.
However, thanka entrepreneurs said that they have to shut shop if they pay good amount to artists. An entrepreneur at Hanuman Dhoka said that the thanka enterprise is running through crisis since some years and that the crisis is getting worse due to strikes and bandas.
“Our business is threatened as we have to wait for months to sell enough thankas purchased from artists,” said Ravi Shrestha, a thanka shopkeeper who sells 10-20 thankas per month at an average rate of NRs25000.”The whole business will collapse if we buy thankas at high prices.”
According to thanka entrepreneurs, the brokers ask for 20-50 percent commission for bringing tourists to a particular shop. Entrepreneurs said that is why they give very low payment to the artists.
“The brokers are also the main cause of difficulties for the artists as they grab half the money of the sale price,” said Ravi Gauchan, owner of Lumbini Buddhist Thanka Painting School at Basantapur. The thanka trade and the artists’ miseries are twin souls but none has raised a voice for them. “We do not have any organisation to speak for our welfare,” said Tamang.
Posted on: 2010-06-03 07:59
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