A SILVERED IRON VAJRAKILA PHURBA, TIBET, 19TH CENTURY

拍品描述

A SILVERED IRON VAJRAKILA PHURBA, TIBET, 19TH CENTURY Tibet, 19th century. The pommel cast as a bearded three-headed wrathful deity with wide bulging eyes below furrowed brows centered by a protruding third eye, and grim smiles, crowned by a diadem, the neatly incised hair modeled into a topknot terminating in a four-pronged half-vajra finial. The pommel is fitted to a vajra grip flanked by woven endless knots and terminating in a makara-head issuing a tripartite blade; the open-mouth of the beast issuing intertwined serpents. Dimensions: Height 14.8 cm Phurba is a ritual dagger designed to subdue evil demons. Used in rituals, the triple-sided blade of this three-faced dagger represents the deity Vajrakila. The vertical arrangement of the three heads is a feature more common on ritual clubs, or khatvanga, to symbolize both the attainment of clear light reality and the mastery over the three poisons: passion, aggression, and ignorance. Vajrakila is a meditational deity of tantric Buddhism. Also known as Vajra Kumara (Vajra Youth) or Vajrakilaya, he is the activity aspect from the set of Eight Herukas of the Mahayoga Tantras of the Nyingma Tradition of Tibetan Buddhism and a principal meditational deity for both the Nyingmapa and Sakyapa, later taken up by the Jonang and many of the various Kagyu Traditions.

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