Monpa Lokta Handmade Paper Tawang Arunachal Pradesh

The Monpa people of Tawang district in Arunachal Pradesh have made handmade paper from the bark of the Lokta shrub (Daphne sp.) for centuries, using it primarily for the transcription of Tibetan Buddhist scriptures and thangka paintings. Monpa paper-making involves harvesting bark, boiling in ash lye, beating to pulp on flat stones, spreading on cloth frames, and sun-drying to produce sheets that are resistant to insects and last hundreds of years. Tawang monastery, the largest Buddhist monastery in India, has traditionally used Monpa paper for its manuscripts. A cooperative in Tawang now produces Lokta paper commercially for stationery, lampshades, and art paper markets in Delhi and internationally.