Manipa

Manipas, or manips, are wandering storytellers who performed at pilgrimage sites during religious festivals all over Himalayan regions. In Bhutan, a manipa (as they are known in Bhutan) is a lay priest who recites mantras and other Buddhist texts, and gives popular teachings using miniature portable shrines called Tashi Gomang (The Auspicious Many Doors), and narrative hanging scroll paintings (thangka) as working images to focus their presentations. Very few manipas are active today in Bhutan, but nuns in Tibetan communities of Nepal revived and continue the manipa tradition, which has declined in other areas.