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04-20-2010 08:05 AM
# ADS
Circuit advertisement
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Re: Identifying this item
I reckon it is either Hindu or Buddhist from India/Nepal/Tibet. Maybe others can narrow it down from there.
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Re: Identifying this item
Could this be one of the hands from a statue of Kali the indian deity worshipped by the Thuggee cult?, or just an ornate bottle opener?
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Re: Identifying this item
by
shinyemon
I reckon it is either Hindu or Buddhist from India/Nepal/Tibet. Maybe others can narrow it down from there.
Thanks for the tip shinyemon - looks like Buddhist/Tibet is the key I was missing to identify it. I believe it to be a Phurba or Kila with a Snow Lion (not a dragon head) - it seems to be a ritual tool used in Indo-Tibetan Buddhism.
Thank you for the lead!
J
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Re: Identifying this item
Hi jalith - I have one of these, exactly the same as yours! I have been trying to identify mine as well. What i have so far is: It is a Nepalese or Tibetan, cast-iron Phurba, which is a pre-bhuddist ritual dagger used in banishment of evil ceremonies. (They say that Phurbas have the power to banish or change evil without absorbing any of it.)
I doubt they are broken off anything, especially now that i have seen yours. The fact that yours and mine are identical suggests that they were not made by the "lost wax method" of casting, but rather these items were produced repeatedly from a single, high quality mould.
I am also intrigued by the "horned god" pose of the hand gripping the dagger. I had thought that hand gesture was pagan/celtic in origin. Rather bizarrely, the swastika symbol originates in Tibet - so why not the horns gesture? I now wonder what the Tibetan meaning of this hand gesture is?
I have googled Phurbas and searched the images (that was how i found yours) and i notice that most almost all Phurba's do NOT have hands gripping them at all...let alone with weird hand gestures. I am more curious than ever now!
Now - the next question i have is..."how old are they?"
I hope someone out there can tell us more!
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