Four harmonious Friends Thangka

Four harmonious Friends Thangka is handpainted by our Thangka artist living in Bhaktapur Nepal. It is painted on cotton canvas using vegetable and mineral color.

The 4 friends painting are seen in most Bhutanese homes, Lhakhang and monasteries, and dzongs in the form of a wall painting or a Thanka, there are few who understand its real connections.

While many believe that the painting symbolizes harmony and unity in family or society, it has a world of meaning contrary to its commonplace perception as an obvious symbolism of harmony.

Stort Behind of 4 Harminous friends

Once, a long time ago, four animals, an elephant, a rabbit, a monkey, and a partridge, found themselves in a forest and began to discuss who was the owner of the tree on which they had eaten.

The elephant said, "This tree is mine, I've seen it before!"

The monkey replied: "Elephant, do you see any fruit on top of the tree?" At the negative response of the elephant, the monkey continued saying: "You do not see any fruit because I have eaten them all before you arrived here!"

Then the rabbit intervened saying: "I ate the leaves of this tree when it was still a shrub before the monkey ate its fruits and the elephant saw it!"

To which the partridge counterattacked: "The tree belongs to me because it would not even have been born if I had not planted its seed here! It was I who gave him birth before the rabbit ate the leaves, the monkey ate its fruits and the elephant could see it! "

The elephant, the monkey, and the rabbit, therefore, understood that without the partridge the tree would never have been born and they named it their elder brother.

The four animals became friends and decided to share the tree in harmony, enjoying its fragrant flowers, its colorful leaves and its tasty fruits.

They started working together, one on the other's back; from that moment, the "four harmonious brothers" were called and became the emblem of peace, harmony, cooperation, and friendship for the whole kingdom.

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