KUMARI THANGKAS
Established in 1979, by Mr Ratna Kazi Shakya, Kumari Thangkas is one of the oldest and most respected Thangka Collectors in Nepal. Previously located in the heart of Kathmandu Durbar Square in Hanuman Dhoka. A place that has been in the family for generations. We opted to move to Jhamsikhel at our residence after the 2015 earthquake as the site was greatly damaged.
Recommended by travel guide books for our intricate knowledge on Thangka Art. We have worked with many art galleries , museums and private collectors and would like to meet fellow art lovers and collectors.
Our collection is considered to be a unique record of the evolution of Thangka art in Nepal for the past 90 yrs. We have carefully crafted a rich and healthy relationship with many artists in the region. We have acquired unprecedented access to the artist community and gathered vast knowledge on the Art of Thangka. I would like to share this knowledge through this platform with all of you ,that are interested to know about this artwork. Please welcome and do not hesitate to get me live in this world of Internet WhatsApp , Messenger and many more.
Dear Fellow readers Namaste. I am Ratna Kazi Shakya. Born on 18th March 1960. My father’s name was Dibya Ratna Shakya and my mother’s name was Nani Sowa Shakya. Born in a big family of seven brothers and three sisters, I was brought up in this Buddhist culture of the Newars called the Vajrayana Buddhism. My father even though a native from Kathmandu settled in Kalimpong India for almost 50yrs. We the children were all educated there as the Education in India was much better than the Education system in Kathmandu. I graduated with a Senior Cambridge School Certfication. I had an ambition to become a Pilot and to continue my studies related to this. This destiny in Life never came to become a reality in my Life. Family personal reasons became a part of my destiny where my father decided that I should stop my studies and start to work.This was in the late seventies. My father moved back to Kathmandu as my grandfather passed away.
The seventies and eighties in Kathmandu boomed with the arrivals of the Hippies that discovered Kathmandu as a living Paradise and introduced this to the World which now is called Nepal Tourism. This is how Tourism was born in Nepal.
My father had a shop in Kathmandu Durbar Square in Makhan Tole which he inherited it from my Grandfather. This place was where it all started My journey of Thangkas. It was the place every tourist visiting Kathmandu would come spend hours in this beautiful place. The beautiful Taleju Temple dominating the Square and the shops just at its footsteps. The History of Thangka business in Kathmandu started here in this place . Nothing existed like shops in Thamel, Bouddhanath ,Patan or Bhaktapur.
At this time there was nothing in these places. All these places developed in the decades to come. Thamel used to be a place where you had to go through paddy fields to reach Kathmandu Guest House which used to be a private palace.
Kumari Thangkas journey started here in the name of Shakya’s Curio Centre which used to be a Family business. I worked here till the mid Eighties . In 1986 I got married to Laurence ( my beautiful wife ) with whom I had two sons Satcheen and Suman. I then run a shop of my own in Makhantole in front of the small Pashupati Temple for three years . Then in 1988 I moved in Hanumandhoka in front of the Big Bell. I have been here ever since known as Kumari Thangkas . I put the name Kumari Thangkas as this place here has the most iconic figure Kumari ( The Living Godess ) that lives close by to my shop in the Kumari Bahal.
My path to Dharma
