![Seventeenth century Tibetan thangka](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/35/17th_century_Central_Tibeten_thanka_of_Guhyasamaja_Akshobhyavajra%2C_Rubin_Museum_of_Art2.png/350px-17th_century_Central_Tibeten_thanka_of_Guhyasamaja_Akshobhyavajra%2C_Rubin_Museum_of_Art2.png)
A "Thangka," also known as "Tangka", "Thanka" or "Tanka" is a painted or embroidered Buddhist banner which was hung in a monastery or a family altar and occasionally carried by monks in ceremonial processions. In Tibetan the word 'than' means flat and the suffix 'ka' stands for painting.