Fine Tibetan Brass Vajra & Ghanta Bell Pair

This ritual bell (ghanta) and vajra are a proper matched pair – they were made together and have remained together ever since. The sound the bell makes when it rings is beautifully clear and one of the best that we have encountered. The set is also particularly well cast.

Cast in brass, the bell is decorated with a freize of kurtimukha masks with suspended fringes of ‘pearls’ between them. Also cast between them are the eight Himalayan Buddhist motifs. Around the shoulder of the bell is a border of lantsa script symbols ensconced in lotus petal frames. The body also has two borders cast with tiny vajra motifs.

The grip is cast with a head emerging from a kalasha vase (the face is on one side and the back of the head on the other – this is often thought to be a wisdom deity or yum) atop which there is a crown that is a four-pronged vajra finial with each prong emerging from the mouth of a makara, symbolising that all beings are held by the vajra in the grip of compassion.

The bell retains its original clapper which is attached to the interior of the bell with a silk cord. It is suspended from a small eyelet shaped as a vajra emerging from a lotus bloom.

The paired vajra has a central spherical grip bordered on each side with lotus petal borders, and four prongs that emerge from makara mouths around a central prong.

The set is in excellent condition.