Fabulous Large Antique Bronze Temple Hanging Bell (Ghanta)

This wonderful antique bronze temple bell was sourced many years ago in Kathmandu and is from my own private collection.  It is extremely difficult to find a bell of this type, size, and quality today.

This beautiful bell has the classical Himalayan hanging bell shape, and would have been suspended from a rope just inside or beside a Buddhist or Hindu temple shrine.  Another shorter rope or chain would have been attached to the bottom of the clapper to facilitate easy ringing by a devotee.  

Multiple smaller versions of this bell, having the same or similar shape, are typically threaded along a horizontal metal bar situated above small shrines, for people to brush their fingers along to announce their presence (see attached comparison photo).  But this bell is much more substantial and important and would have been individually hung in or by a major temple shrine.  The excellent unweathered condition of this bell suggests that it was sheltered from the elements by a canopy, probably just inside a shrine.

It is in a fabulous state of preservation and benefits from a finely engraved inscription that goes three-quarters way around and between the bands just above the bell’s open mouth.  The inscription is probably in Sanskrit.  There are also two small inscription on the top, but these are less clear.

The rung note is an excellent and evocative sixth octave E6 (1286Hz).

When you buy, handle, and ring one of these antique bells you can be confident that it is a genuine and revered holy instrument that has played an important part in countless sacred rituals and ceremonies for at least 100 years. Each bell is a fascinating and beautiful object in its own right, with the look and feel of antiquity…but perhaps more importantly, when it is rung one can sense the spiritual energy, power and purpose with which it is imbued, and the present ineffably connects to the past.