Very heavy Tibetan Mahakala Phurba

 

A dream piece, I was able to buy the Phurba from a Tibetan at the Swayambhunath Stupa in Nepal.

It is very, very heavy, weighs approx. 1.8 kg and is made of dark bronze. Mahakala is depicted with 3 heads. The heads were fire-gilded! The work is a dream, very fine!

Dimensions: Total length: 27 cm long, 20 cm wide, height when lying down: 9cmBuddha

Mahakala - the wrathful deity

In his hands he holds a cleaver and a skull bowl filled with blood or brain matter (symbolizing wisdom and method and for cutting off all false ideas). The symbols of death, threat and destruction are deliberately used to protect people to fear death, to teach the true death, the death of the self. He also holds a trident and a dorje in his hands. An old red cloth is tied around the dagger in the middle, presumably the Phurba was blessed with it. Unfortunately, no further background information about this old Phurba is known.

In Tibetan, Mahakala is called Mgon Po Nag Po (Gönpo Nagpo).
 The name Mahakala comes from Sanskrit and means:
Maha = great, kala = time.
There are three related words in Nepali:
Kalaha = argument, dispute
Kala = art, craft, technology
Kal = time, age, age, death
There is also the word: kalo = black.
Typically, Mahakala is translated as “the great black one,” with “black” having at least an affinity for death and dispute.

 

The meaning and use of the Phurba:

The Phurba is a protective symbol and is used in Buddhism to ward off negative influences.The three-edged blade of the Phurba comes from a dragon's mouth. A snake sits on the blade, it is the protector of Buddhist teachings.

In Tibetan rituals, fruits are formed into the shape of a demon. Purification takes place through prayer, protection through putting on a ritual garment, and 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 proclaiming 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).

 

 

 

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In his hands he holds a cleaver and a skull bowl filled with blood or brain matter (symbolizing wisdom and method and for cutting off all false ideas). The symbols of death, threat and destruction are deliberately used to protect people to fear death, to teach the true death, the death of the self. He also holds a trident and a dorje in his hands. An old red cloth is tied around the dagger in the middle, presumably the Phurba was blessed with it. Unfortunately, no further background information about this old Phurba is known. In Tibetan rituals, fruits are formed into the shape of a demon. Purification takes place through prayer, protection through putting on a ritual garment, and invocation of the protective deities. Then follows a longer ritual in which mantras are spoken again and aga