During his travels to Sikkim and Tibet, N.K. Roerich heard wonderful myths and prophecies about Shambhala – a mythical country, the Stronghold of Great Knowledge and Light, associated with the dreams of peoples about the establishment of universal justice and happiness on the Earth. In his work the artist has repeatedly resorted to the theme of “Shambhala”, dedicating his paintings to the Lord of Shambhala, to the signs accompanying the onset of the era of “true cooperation”.

The sketch “The Message of Shambhala” belongs to the series dedicated to this legendary country. Against the background of a clear-cut blue-purple mountains, he depicted a man in a pointed hat, having a quiver with arrows on his back. He bends his bow and aims somewhere above the horizon.

In the Himalayas, it is customary to send “reports” from high plateaus down to villages. Ones attaches a letter with the desired text to the arrow, and, launched by a skillful hand, it reaches the village in a few minutes. Arrow is a symbol of the Good News, a kind of link between the earth and the world of the Highest Wisdom. Later, Roerich would paint several variations of this plot under the titles of “The Message of Shambhala”, “The Arrow Message”.