Great phurba pendant from Nepal!

A particularly beautiful piece of brass! I bought the pendant from a Tibetan on the way up to the Swayambunath Stupa in Kathmandu. It's a rare piece and I've only been able to purchase a few pieces.

The unusual pendant has a length of 10 cm (measured without the eyelet) and is solid brass.

The phurba has a small eyelet through which a piece of hand-cut yak leather cord is threaded. This has a length of approx. 15 cm. Of course you can also wear it as a pendant around your neck, the phurba looks great on men in particular! 

The phurba, like a magic wand, is a protective symbol and is used in Buddhism to ward off negative influences. 

It is used to ward off demonic forces - meaning demons, illnesses, psychic forces. In Tibetan rituals, the shape of a demon is formed from fruits. There is purification through prayer, protection through putting on a ritual robe, invocation of the protective deities. Then follows a longer ritual in which mantras are spoken again and again and finally the phurba is pushed into the fruit figure while calling out a "completion mantra". Fruits are used because fruits are carriers of life and can therefore absorb demonic forces on behalf of other life (e.g. the person seeking help).