‘Rahul Collection’ of manuscripts and paintings from Tibet by scholar Rahul Sankrityayan has become a bone of contention between authorities at the Bihar Museum and scholars and family of the traveller-historian.
- The Rahul Collection was a provisional gift made to Patna Museum by the late scholar commencing from 1933.
- It contains Tibetan Thangka paintings, more than 1,600 Tibetan manuscripts, coins, ritual objects, images of bronze, unbaked clay and wood, items of jewellery, costumes as well as glass negatives of some rare palm leaf scriptures.
- Thangka is an ancient form of Buddhist art that originated within Tibet around the 11th century.
- Peaceful deities, wrathful deities, and mandalas are among the subjects depicted in thangkas.
- 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.
