In the Kathmandu Valley, Newar artists have painted Vajrayana Buddhist mandalas — the Paubha tradition — since at least the 11th century, rendering the mandala palace as concentric squares within circles in gold and lapis on a lacquer-dark ground. Framing the sacred geometry, vertical columns of Ranjana (also called Lantsa) script carry mantras such as Om mani padme hum, a calligraphic tradition as old as the painting practice itself.

This system reads that lineage through a deep aubergine-purple field rather than the more common Paubha red, letting gold geometry and lapis-blue architecture sit in tantric contrast against the dark ground, bordered by precise vertical calligraphy.