2 Antique Bronze Temple Hanging Shrine Bells from Nepal

These 2 antique bronze bells or Ghanta are of a type found hanging by a street shrine or inside a Buddhist or Hindu Temple. They have probably hung beside or above the shrine for hundreds of years and been rung daily by countless worshipers. The rung note of the fluted bell is F#6 (1503Hz) and the other bell D7 (2295Hz).  Both sound great.

Shrine bells are occasionally renewed as their hanging rings wear thin, and sometimes a shrine might be moved or destroyed to make way for a new development, and their bells end up in an antique shop.  I bought these two bells from an antique dealer in Kathmandu, Nepal, about 40 years ago.

All shrine bells are individually cast and are therefore unique.  These ancient bronze bells are structurally sound with an aged patina.

Antique bronze shrine bells like this are few and far between, and are highly prized by religious practitioners, shaman, yogis, healers and sound therapists, as well as bell collectors.

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