Type of art practiced among the Navajo and Pueblo Indian s and among Tibetan Buddhists.
Sandpaintings are stylized, symbolic pictures (in Tibet, mandala s) prepared by trickling small quantities of crushed, coloured sandstone, charcoal, or pollen on a background of clean smoothed sand. The pictures may include representations of deities, cosmic worlds, animals, lightning, rainbows, plants, and other symbol s described in chants that accompany various religious and healing rites.