Magnificent Rare Antique 11 ½” Ceremonial Jambati Singing Bowl – Fabulous G#3 – Ritual Cuts

Antique Ceremonial Jambati Singing Bowl.  Note: G#3 (Throat Chakra)

Weight 2.42 kilos (5 lb 5 ½ oz).  Size 29 x 14 (11 ½ x 5 ½ inches)

Imagine trekking to a remote foundry in the Himalayas a hundred plus years ago, to collect a beautifully crafted and incredibly expensive bronze singing bowl that you commissioned months before…and then deliberately cutting 2 nicks in the bowl’s perfect playing edge, and scoring a deep X right across its finely grooved lip!  That’s exactly what a former owner, probably the original one, did to this wonderful antique singing bowl early in its life! 

It’s such a strange thing to do, to deface something so special knowing that the two parallel cuts inflicted on the rim might register as audible double clicks or beats with each sweep of the ringer.  This might have been the intention, but I believe them to be important and necessary ritual cuts made to initiate or sanctify the bowl in some way, and that in all probability the bowl was intended to be struck not played, in which case the cuts would make no difference at all. 

I do not know the actual significance of these ritual marks, but I have come across them many times, particularly on the rims of high quality antique Jambati singing bowls such as this, and occasionally on superior Manipuri bowls.  They are what they are, and it’s pointless to think of them as spoilers.  What we think of as damage is in fact sacred to somebody else.  Better by far to accept them as part and parcel of the bowl’s life story, and appreciate the overall beauty of the bowl and its glorious struck note.  And with a little luck a suede ringer will absorb the rim note clicks and the bowl will sing sweetly anyway…just as this one does!

This is a magnificent heavy and rare 11 ½” antique ceremonial Jambati Singing Bowl with a fabulous third octave G#3 (210Hz) fundamental with a long sustain when struck with a padded mallet or played around the rim with a suede or wooden ringer.  The 2 small parallel ritual cuts on the playing edge are not noticeable with a suede ringer.

It has a superbly crafted deep-bodied form with closely hammered walls, and features a wide triangulated lip with well-defined decorative grooves.  There are decorative bands encircling the outer rim, and circles at its centre.   There are 2 tiny ritual cuts on the rim and and X cut across the lip.  Its structural condition is excellent and it is clean and free of stains and blemishes.

The physical and sonic qualities of this wonderful bowl are second to none!  It is close to perfection!

A large Tibetan silk brocade bowl cushion, padded striker, and 2 ringers are all included in the price.

{audio}jambati2-42.mp3{/audio}

Listen: (2 struck notes and 1 played note with a suede ringer)