Footnotes

A GILT COPPER ALLOY AND SKULLCUP
NEPAL, DATED 1734

尼泊爾 1734年 嵌銅鎏金嘎巴拉供碗

The cast copper bowl inset with a cranium is surmounted by a crowned head of a bodhisattva flanked by two dried skulls and a small skull at the back and raised on skull feet. The inscription invokes Chakrasamvara and the date of the gift of the cup in 854 (1734 A.D.).

As noted by Bandel ibid, p. 354 'In the ritual called Mantra Skullcup puja, Varuni is invoked as an emanation of Vairavarahi. There are three skull "feet" under the bowl to support the skullcup, paralleling the Tibetan convention of the three heads, which are joined to the upper rim of the triangular fire mandala. The feet are an unusual feature in Newar skullcups, which generally do not have the lower support. In both the threefold meditations (trisamadhi puja) and the Samvarodya Dishi Puja to Chakrasamvara and Vajravarahi performed in the Newar agam shrines, the skullcup ritual immediately follows the mandala visualizations of Chakrasamvara and Vajravarahi. In this ritual, it is through the goddess Varuni and her mantra that the substances in the skullcup, here specifically alcohols, transform into the nectar of transcendent insight nana amrita). Thus, the Newar Buddhist name of the skullcup is derived from these rituals, in which it is referred to as the "mantra bowl" or "mantra skullcup".

The visualization of the skullcup ritual differs little from the meditations described above and the transformations to be realized are essentially identi cal. It must be taken into consideration that the Newar Buddhist practice of using alcohol and other symbolic food offering as substitutes for the required contaminated offerings is a local tradition and does not necessarily represent other practices. For a related example, see Tingley, Celestial Realms, 2012, pp. 98-9.

Published:
Ramon Prats, et.al., Monasterios y lamas del Tibet, Madrid, Fundación "La Caixa", 2000, p.114, no.49.
John Huntington, et. al., The Circle of Bliss: Buddhist Meditational Art, Los Angeles, 2003, pp.354-355, no.102.

Exhibited:
Monasterios y lamas del Tibet, Fundación "La Caixa", Madrid, November 2000-January 2001.
The Circle of Bliss: Buddhist Meditational Art Los Angeles County Museum October 05, 2003–January 04, 2004 and The Columbus Museum of Art, February 06–May 09, 2004.

Provenance:
Spink & Son Ltd., London, 1990s