Two animal horn tips. Extent: Two animal horn tips. Size and dimensions of original material: 6.5 cm and 4,3 cm long. Custodial history: All items handed down from grandfather to father to son for over six generationsand probably many more. Arrangement: All items are kept in the prayer room of...
A wooden dough mould (Tib. དཔར་ཤིང་ Wylie. dpar shing, sometimes called Zan Par, though this term seems not to be used in Spiti). These moulds are used to make impressions of figures and symbols into dough offerings used in tantric rituals. The spectrum of carvings on these dough moulds include h...
A three sided brass dagger (phur ba or dorje phur ba) wrapped in cloth. Though the face of the deity is no longer clearly recognisable, the small horse head at the top of the handle indicates this is the wrathful protector deity Hayagriva (Tib.རྟ་མགྲིན་ Wylie rta mgrin), commonly invoked in Tantr...
A carved wooden block, for printing an image of a single large figure on to cloth or paper, for hanging outside a house, above the door, as a protection from malicious and evil spirits. The carving is rich with detail: zodiacal year signs, astrological trigrams, animal figures and mantra text. Ca...
An animal bone "piping syringe", probably made from the lower leg bone of a sheep. The bone has a hole drilled in its end, and is filled with butter which is extruded with a stick "plunger", to create butter piping to decorate ritual dough offerings (torma). Extent: One animal bone piping syringe...
A human thighbone trumpet. A common tantric artefact. Made, according to the owner, from the arm of a 25 year old woman. (it is usually the femur). Unusually this trumpet has a section of animal horn taped to the end. Extent: One human thighbone trumpet. Size and dimensions of original material:...
A flat wooden dough mould carved on one side only. It has several carvings of astrological symbols and a line of humanoid, animal headed creatures: shapes and figures that are pressed into dough offerings (torma) during specific tantric rituals. Extent: One wooden dough mould. Size and dimension...
Medical suction cups. A collection of five suction cups: two brass cones and three animal horn tips that used for "cupping" the technique of applying a vacuum to remove bad blood (black blood). The cup is applied to the skin for half an hour, the hole in the tip of the cup sealed for that time wi...
