In Tibetan, the word for art is rimo. The story behind this word is:
In Tibetan, the word for mountain is ri, while the word for woman is mo. There was a shepherd, Akar, who led his flock of sheep and goats deep into the mountains one day. So far they traveled that the day ran out before he could return home, so Akar slept that night in the mountains. And while he slept, he dreamt of the most beautiful woman he had ever seen, dancing in a tent of rainbows. But whenever he tried to get close to her, she disappeared. When he awoke, her image was so vivid in his mind that he had to outwardly express what he saw. So Akar carved her likeness onto the face of a rock, and then carried it down from the mountains. When people asked him what was so special about the rock he carried home, he pointed to the image he had carved on it and told them that this was his “ri-ge pu-mo,” which means “the mountain’s girl.” But when people told and retold the story, they said that Akar had a beautiful thing called “rimo,” and when they visited him to see this thing, they called it “rimo.” From then on, the term rimo became a popular way to refer to the means by which to illustrate an image
