Interesting Phurba

[Jim McDougall]

The way I have understood it, these typically had triple 'blades' as they were traditionally developed from the common tent pegs in early Tibetan nomadic history. As these were enhanced into Tantric ritual objects, there was key symbolism attributed to the three numeric in the blades. According to some sources, the term phur means nail or peg, and in Central Tibet these are phur-pa; while in Khan, Amdo and Ladakh the term is phur-bu.
Since these are ritual objects used symbolically it is noted that they may be made from various materials, not restricted to iron or brass, some are also wood.

Probably one of the best sources for illustrations of the variations on these would be "The Phur-Pa : Tibetan Ritual Dagger" by John C. Huntington, Artibus Asiae supplement XXXIII, Switzerland, 1975. Though this one is tough to locate, I would use interlibrary services or collegiate libraries.

Another article could be found using these services;
"The Phur-Bu: The Use and Symbolism of the Tibetan Magic Dagger", Georgette Meredith, "History of Religions" 6:3 , Feb. 1967, pp.236-253

I thought I would add these resources for the readers who would like to research these interesting items further.

Since so many of these Tibetan items are being produced commercially, it is hard to determine authenticity without close hands on examination. I would suspect this one may be commercial, but seems to be somewhat older, though not necessarily antique.

Good topic!!!

[Andy Stevens]

Thanks to everyone for their replies! We recently went to the British museum but they didn't have much in the way of phurba. Unfortunately I didn't get a good pic of the one they did have, next time! Anything further we find about ours we will be sure to post! Thanks again!
Andy and Karina

[Jim McDougall]

Originally Posted by Andy Stevens

Thanks to everyone for their replies! We recently went to the British museum but they didn't have much in the way of phurba. Unfortunately I didn't get a good pic of the one they did have, next time! Anything further we find about ours we will be sure to post! Thanks again!
Andy and Karina

Hi Andy,
I just wanted to thank you for acknowledging our efforts, especially Tatyana's fascinating link, which is one I was unaware of as well.
As I mentioned, the Huntington book probably has the best grouping of these to get a better overall understanding of them, and since it is somewhat rare, the museum at the British Museum is likely to have it. Beyond that, using the interlibrary loan service is the best alternative.

Interesting things you post, and I admire your courtesy as well!!! I like your style Andy

All the best,
Jim

[Tim Simmons]

I found this picture of one of the same blade form. 16cm long the modelling is pretty tight. From "Oriental Art of India, Nepal, Tibet, Micheal J Ridley 1970.

[Jim McDougall]

Nice work Tim!!!!
It looks like Andy's example has the vajra and phur pa incorporated into one, as these are apparantly used in tandem in ritual. I think I will join with Vandoo and Battara in noting that this one has quality that may well be commensurate with one for actual ritual use rather than the commercial stuff out there.

[David]

Originally Posted by Jim McDougall

Nice work Tim!!!!
It looks like Andy's example has the vajra and phur pa incorporated into one, as these are apparantly used in tandem in ritual. I think I will join with Vandoo and Battara in noting that this one has quality that may well be commensurate with one for actual ritual use rather than the commercial stuff out there.

Hey Jim, i think that Barry and José were referring to the one if the museum, not Andy's. I'm pretty sure that Andy's is only a commercial repro. There are so many variations on commercially produced phurbas, but the vast majority of what is available out there has had absolutely no ritual use by Buddhist monks. Many of the repros are beautifully crafted, some with valuable metals and gems like the museum example, quality is not necessarily a guide to authenticity. Keep in mind that these items would be passed down and kept within the practice. They are considered VERY powerful ritual tools. So the availability of real authentic phurpas that have seen real ritual use is next to nil.
Phurpas have traditionally been made out of wood as well as metal. When metal the blades are generally iron or in special cases, meterorite, which it was felt was necessary to employ against certain demons that were immune to earthly materials.
Here are some images of some "real" and some possibly "real" phurpas. The one with the hammer is supposedly 17th century.

[Jim McDougall]

David, thank you so much for the gently worded and well explained correction I had misunderstood which one they were referring to. I regret for Andy that that appears to be the case, but if nothing else, this is definitely an intriguing item.
I was fascinated by these long before I saw the one in "The Shadow" back in the 90s, and really hoped to find one myself back in those days.

Thanks again David, and Andy, still a nice item, even if not officially a ritual piece.

All the best,
Jim