Paubha Painting in Lalitpur - Artistic, Pure & Peaceful

The Paubha is a rich painting tradition that visualizes the interpretation of Buddhist and Hindu philosophies. Often confused with the more popular Thangka which traces back to Tibetan cultures, the Paubha has its roots in the Newar communities of Kathmandu Valley with a subtle difference in the painting styles from that of Thangka. 

Derived from the word “Patrabhattaraka”, Paubha is a form of the divine art of painting gods. The Paubha is often created to worship gods or for meditative purposes. 

Painting a Paubha takes a lot of time, and a well-decorated Paubha takes months to complete. The four-hour workshop, however, is designed with the objective to generate awareness of this endangered form of art and culture with hands-on experiences of the process involved in decorating a Paubha. During the Paubha workshop, you will learn about the Paubha painting while trying to paint your own Paubha which you can take as a souvenir.

You begin the painting workshop with a brief introduction about the Paubha painting and learn its history and its significance through an experienced instructor. Mr. Ujay Bajracharya has been in Paubha painting for more than 10 years and runs a small shop in Gwarko, Lalitpur. The shop is about 30 minutes drive from Patan Community Homestay.  The instructor will then guide you through the painting process with demonstrations, here you can learn different strokes and techniques and the role of colors play in creating beautiful and meaningful paubha paintings. 

After a few demonstrations and practices, in the final session of the workshop, you will be provided with a canvas where you can create your own Paubha. Painting a Paubha takes a lot of patience and time and with guidance from the instructor, you can see the art come to life slowly.  Once the painting is complete, the instructor will package the painting so you can take your painting with you. The workshop ends with a tour of the shop where you can observe the gallery of Paubhas created by professional painters.

Duration: 4 hrs

Workshop: Indoors

Location: Gwarko, Lalitpur