Mid 20th Century Bronze Vajrakila Jhakri/Shaman Phurba from Nepal

This superbly cast and finely-detailed bronze Jhakri or shaman’s phurba was recently sourced in Nepal. 

It would have been used for a variety of transformative rituals, healing and protection, and features three crowned heads of a fierce deity with a horse head above.  It has a vajra hilt, an eagle Makara, and snakes on each of its 3-faceted blade.

Almost all metal phurba on the market today are modern reproductions made to appear old and sold as antiques, but as a collector I am personally satisfied that this is a genuine shamanic tool dating from the mid 1950s.   A rare find!