TIBET, 18TH-19TH CENTURY

The ritual use of this powerful object is explicated in the Vajrakilaya Tantra, a system of practice perfected and transmitted by the deified historical figure, Padmasambhava, who is accredited with the import of Buddhism to Tibet in the eighth century and the consecration of Samye, the first Buddhist monastery in Tibet. Tibetan Buddhist practitioners use this sacred text in conjunction with this ritual peg, or phurba, to ward off demonic obstructions and to protect the religion in the tradition established by early Vajrayana practitioners, or nyingmapa, who carried traditions from India to Tibet. The heads of the wrathful heruka that sit at the top of this imposing ritual device symbolize the instrument’s ritual potency as an embodiment of the blood-drinking deity, Vajrakilaya.