Silver and Gem Phurba

[Battara]

Greetings folks,

Here is something I got in a lot of other things. This is a Tibetan Buddhist phurba made of silver, red corals, bone faces, crowns of turquoise, lapis lazuli, and the makara has glass eyes. The tripartite blade has a snake on 2 sides, and all sides have Tibetan writing on them.

I did not have to do any restoration to this outside of cleaning the silver.

Thought I'd share it. I am also into religious weaponry.

Enjoy.

[JeffS]

Beautiful. There is such a flood of tourist phurbas, it is nice to look at the real deal. Thank you for sharing. Is it accurate to call these weaponry? My understanding is that are intended to emulate tent pegs.

[Rich]

Beautiful piece. I think the inscription is "Om Mani Padme Hum" ?

[mariusgmioc]

Magnificent! This is worthy for a museum. Thank you for sharing!

Real, high quality phurbas like this one are very rare. Most that I have seen are of brass and of pretty low quality workmanship.

How big is it?

@ JeffS
In my understanding they are mystical/spiritual weapons aimed at fighting evil/demonic forces of the spiritual world.

[Ian]

Great piece! It looks to have some age. Any idea how old it may be?

[Battara]

Thank you folks.

JeffS - yes it originally came from the tent peg but later under Bon religion and after that Tibetan Buddhism became a weapon to peg demons down into the ground for disposal and then the wrathful energies from the deities (the faces on the top) come through to dispel demons and evil influences. However, the opposite side, the top, is used for blessing others.

Rich - thank you, meaning "Hail to the jewel in the lotus" - a common old chant in existence before Buddhism came to Tibet.

Marius - Thank you for your confirmation, and it is 9.25 inches tall (around 23 cm)

Ian - not sure about age, but I would guess late 19c? This is what Czerny's dated their example 3 years ago anyway. I would also say the this form was made for either high rank or for veneration and meditation.

[Battara]

Here is an old link to the discussion of phurba and grigu (kartika):

http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=49&highlight=phurba

[mariusgmioc]

And here are some examples from the Ethnography Museum in Leiden.

[Battara]

Very nice Marius. Thank you for posting real examples from this museum. As JeffS said, there is a flood of tourist examples. We need all the real examples we can find and post for future reference.

[Ian]

Jose, your example is right up there with the posted museum pieces. You have a truly lovely item.