When I first walked through the great utse tower at Punakha Dzong in late November, the whitewashed walls were still damp from the morning mist. Above me, thirty feet of saffron-red kemar band stretched along the northern wall — deeper than any photograph had prepared me for.
The Grammar of Kemar
The saffron pigment known as kemar is not merely decorative — it is a liturgical declaration, a visual grammar that has crossed valleys for four centuries.