Thangkas are religious scroll paintings painted in cotton canvas of Tibetan origin. These kind of paintings were also painted in the walls of the Monastery which were classified as Mural Paintings. Thangkas were used to be placed in household shrines.Thangkas were commissioned for many purposes—as aids to meditation, as requests for long life, as tokens of thanksgiving for having recovered from illness, or in order to accumulate merit. Those who commissioned thangkas also supplied the materials, so their financial status determined the quality of the pigments, the amount of gold used for embellishment, and the richness of the brocade on which the painting was mounted. Peaceful gods and goddess , Wrathful gods and goddess, Mandalas, Life story of Buddha and the Wheel of Life ( Bhavachakra ) are among the popular motives depicted.Each Tibetan Buddhist sect has its favorite gods; therefore, identifying a particular god depicted on a thangka helps determine the sect with which the painting is associated. The Nyingma order or the Gelug order. Samantabadra is usually represented in the centre top of the Thangkas in Nyingma order. Tsongapa is represented in the center top of Thangkas in the Gelug order. Thangkas are very fragile objects . In order to preserve it ,its necessary to keep the painting as still as possible and should not be exposed to strong light like Sunlight.
