Dimensions: Height 38 cm Wide 13 cm Depth 9 cm
Weight: 2197 grams

The ritual dagger (phurba) is finely cast with a tripartite blade emerging from a makara terminal, each edge with incised scrolling patterns. The handle takes the form of a fierce three-faced deity with bulging eyes, bared fangs, and a wrathful expression, crowned with elaborate foliate tiaras surmounted by a horse’s head (hayagrīva), a symbol of transcendent power. The deity’s hands are clasped at the chest in a gesture of unity, and the figures are adorned with jewelry, earrings, and a skull crown. Richly detailed, the bronze surface has developed a warm patina from ritual use.

The phurba is a quintessential tantric implement, employed in Vajrayāna Buddhism to subdue demonic forces, bind negative energies, and stabilize sacred space. Its triple blade represents the cutting through of the three poisons—ignorance, attachment, and aversion—while the wrathful deity embodies the protective and transformative energy of enlightened compassion.

Comparative Literature & References

• Compare with a similar bronze phurba in the British Museum, inv. no. OA 1987.7-12.1, with nearly identical tripartite blade and wrathful deity finial.

• See John C. Huntington & Dina Bangdel, The Circle of Bliss: Buddhist Meditational Art, Columbus Museum of Art, 2003, for discussion of the symbolic role of phurbas in tantric ritual.

• A related 18th-century phurba with hayagrīva finial was sold at Christie’s, New York, 21 March 2012, lot 813, showing closely comparable iconography.

• Compare also to an example in the Rubin Museum of Art, New York, collection no. C2005.16.9.