Bhaktapur is well known for the center for Paubha/Thangka painting. Paubha is painted on cotton canvas with water-soluble pigments, both mineral and organic, tempered with an herb and glue solution. The entire process demands great mastery over the drawing and perfect understanding of econometric principles. The physical construction of a Paubha, as with the majority of Buddhist art, is highly geometric. Arms, legs, eyes, nostrils, ears, and various ritual implements are all laid out on a systematic grid of angles and intersecting lines.
A skilled Paubha artist will generally select from a variety of predesigned items to include in the composition, ranging from alms bowls and animals to the shape, size, and angle of a figure’s eyes, nose, and lips. The process seems very scientific, but often requires a very deep understanding of the symbolism of the scene being depicted, in order to capture the essence or spirit of it. Paubha and Thanka’s are religious murals made on canvas usually depicting images of the Hindu and Buddhist deities, their incarnation, and philosophies.