Antique Buddhist Butter Art Pattern Manuscript – Mongolia

As I open the packet of manuscript folios from Mongolia, the scent of the monastery infused into the centuries-old paper hits me before the vision does.

Manuscripts, most often contain some model story, knowledge or some preaching – some way to transmit the wisdom that offers a prescriptive way of life for the unenlightened reader. Then there are those that contain some musical representations of chants or some scientific drawings.

Some like this one – look like drawings that are just patterns.

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The drawings looks familiar!

If only I could read the script and understand the words! What are they talking about here?

As I dwell upon the pictures my mind begins to scan all my past experiences to identify these forms [similar to the computer scanning of fingerprints to find a match that we see on CSI]

And within seconds  I realise that these are drawing of Yak Butter Art that  Buddhist Monks that I have seen in Sikkim.

These manuscripts are pattern-books for butter art of Buddhist Lamas!!!

How exciting to find such manuscripts!  They offer templates for inexperienced or student monks enabling them to create their devotional art.

A note on the Yak Butter Art  written long ago Here

jm

June 2015

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