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In a 1897 article on the use of skulls by tantric practitioners in India鈥攚ith notes on their use in Tibet as well鈥擧enry Balfour illustrates the formal diversity of these vessels with a number of examples from the Pitt Rivers Museum where he was curator, with rough-edged skulls suited to ascetic settings as well as ornate examples more often characteristic to monastic or institutional use with a lid and tripod stand shaped by repouss茅 (figure 4.2.1). Balfour鈥檚 account emphasizes the transgressive dynamics of practices associated with their use by suggesting that 鈥渞ebels鈥�, criminals and other enemies of religious or political authority are the preferential donors for these skulls.^[1] While the second chapter of this dissertation introduced some of the historical sources for these cultural narratives and their antinomian qualification, this section will explore technical specifications and evidence for the variety of skulls used as ritual objects in Tibetan material religion.

Figure 4.2.1: An illustrated selection of skulls at the Pitt Rivers Museum in the late 19th century. Image from Balfour 1897.

Skulls (Tibetan: Th枚pa or thod pa; Sanskrit: 办补辫腻濒补) are the most versatile ritual instruments made from human remains in Tibetan material religion, often used as vessels for collecting, transforming, presenting or distributing offerings and empowered substances in a diversity of individual and public applications. Skulls are selected and prepared according to the accumulated knowledge and ritual skill of a practitioner or religious authority through an evaluation of physical characteristics such as color, shape, the morphology of its capillary patterns and sutures, number of cranial segments and structural cohesion with certain features being more or less suited to a ritual鈥檚 purpose. Evidence for this body of ritual and material knowledge is found in the Tibetan thod brtags corpus, for example, which interprets these features of skulls according to their ritual applications and benefits or liabilities to the user(s).^[2]

Figures 4.2.2 and 4.2.3: Interior and exterior of a one-piece skull with tshangs pa鈥檌 bu ga in the crown, a hole created from an expulsion or transference of breath or vitality made by an accomplished practitioner at death or during meditation, November 2017.

The skull in figs. 4.2.2 and 4.2.3鈥攗sed by an individual practitioner within a monastery in eastern Tibet鈥攅xhibits a number of highly valued physical and morphological characteristics, including an evenly polished and smooth exterior, white in color with minimal evidence of cranial sutures and having the appearance of one coherent piece.^[3] Moreover, these features鈥攊ncluding the strong ridge on the interior of the frontal bone鈥攁re described by the thirteenth century Sa skya scholar Grags pa rgyal mtshan, for example.4 The relative value of this skull鈥檚 features was demonstrated through its selective use by the practitioner: An alternative skull鈥攚ith a mottled, uneven color and more prominent cranial sutures鈥攈ad black and greasy accumulations resulting from regular application as a vessel, while this one-piece skull was relatively clean because of its infrequent, specialized use.^[4]

Physical features of the interior or exterior can also exhibit figures, letters, iconography and other marks which are recognized and interpreted through religious study and tantric knowledge. These can, at times, be an indication of the accumulated merit or ritual accomplishment of the donor, as well as the transformative effects of Buddhist tantra on the body, a process frequently recorded in Tibetan hagiographic sources.^[5] Similarly, the small hole in the crown of the skull in figs. 4.2.2 and 4.2.3鈥攎ore clearly visible on the exterior鈥攊s attributed to 鈥�pho ba, an ejection of consciousness or vitality achieved by skilled practitioners during their lives or, more commonly, at death.7 As a physical manifestation of advanced skill or religious knowledge in Buddhist yoga tantra, this morphological feature鈥攚hich can be single or multiple鈥攊s highly valued in skulls.^[6]

Figure 4.2.4: A skull with rang byung Tibetan letter A (嘟�) and triple jewel in a temporary display at the Pitt Rivers Museum (1887.1.279.1-3.); two plaster casts illustrate the raised features, painted in red. Image courtesy of Nicholas Crowe at the PRM.

Self-arisen (Tbt. rang byung) letters and figures on the surface of the cranium鈥攆ound on the interior or exterior鈥攁re another demonstration of ways in which religious education can affect the body of the practitioner and facilitate engagement. In figure 4.2.4, a skull on temporary display at the Pitt Rivers Museum exhibits the Tibetan letter A (嘟�) on the exterior front with three tear-shaped jewels (triratna, Tbt. dkon mchog gsum) on the proper left, reverse. These marks can be understood as a distinction of social, religious and even economic value with the capacity for beneficial influence to the user, as well as evidence for the accomplishment of the donor.^[7] However, as indicated by many informants across the Tibetan cultural region, the legibility of rang byung features is at least partially dependent on the religious knowledge of the viewer.10 Like the other morphological characteristics of skulls described and referenced here, these features and their significance must be recognized by the user(s) in order to be efficacious.

The biography of the skull in fig. 4.2.4 indicates not only the prestige of rang byung imagery but also its historical misinterpretation by untrained observers. Previous descriptions of this object鈥攊ncluding those for its display at the 1862 International Exhibition of Arts in London under the label 鈥淪kull of Confucius鈥� after its acquisition during a military expedition to Beijing鈥攔eflected the hermeneutical agenda of nineteenth century British colonial scholars and curators, rather than an accurate representation of its origins or religious value.^[8] Moreover, at a 1869 meeting of the Ethnological Society of Great Britain, the scholar George Busk claimed鈥攂ased on dubious, uncorroborated historical or anecdotal evidence鈥攖hat this was a drinking vessel made from the skull of a slain enemy of the Qianlong emperor (r. 1735-1796); his interpretation furthermore failed to recognize the religious or cultural significance of its rang byung features.^[9]

The value of this skull and its exceptional features to its historical custodians is suggested by the materials and techniques which had ornamented and supported the object at its acquisition, including a stand and lid in a light-colored cuprous alloy, shaped through repouss茅 and possibly gilded.^[10] These supplemental features鈥攎elted down by a collector after the object was purchased at auction and before it was donated to the Pitt Rivers Museum in 1897鈥攁re similar to many Sino-Tibetan examples from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, including another skull acquired by British imperial forces during the 1868 looting of the Beijing Summer Palace, also in the collection of the Pitt Rivers Museum (figure 4.2.5). As Loseries-Leick has observed, these ornamental features were likely refined after the seventeenth century through the growing political and material patronage of monastic (i.e. dGe lugs) institutions, where these liturgical vessels were intended to simultaneously demonstrate the prestige of the skulls鈥� donors as well as that of the community of lineage holders and their patrons.^[11]

Figure 4.2.5: Another skull on display at the Pitt Rivers Museum in November 2016, with repouss茅 stand of flames and three heads, and lid with the bkra shis rtags brgyad and a single rdo rje handle, donated after its acquisition in Beijing by Maj. Gen. Gibbes Rigaud in 1886. The same object is illustrated second to the left on the bottom row of fig. 4.2.1.

At the same time, these ornamental features indicate the liturgical function of skulls as vessels for the presentation and ritual refinement of offerings: In fig. 4.2.5, the triangular base has flames along its sides, framing the underside/crown of the skull, illustrating sacrificial fire as well as the historical and formal precedent of Tibetan fierce homa practices which utilize a triangular-shaped hearth (drag po鈥檌 me thabs).^[12] Moreover, this fire indicates the process of ritual transformation which activates the contents of the skull as bdud rtsi (Skt. 补尘峁泃补) and a human head at each point emphasizes its suitability for offerings made to wrathful deities or protectors (e.g. charnel materials).^[13] This tripod base for skulls can also be rendered as a tripod of metal or wood (figure 4.2.7), or replicated with the practitioner鈥檚 hand during use.^[14] In fig. 4.2.6, an ornate copper lid with a handle in the shape of a single rdo rje and triangular stand are framing a skull which holds offerings鈥攕oda and alcoholic beverages, seen adjacent鈥攐utside a monastic mgon khang, while in fig. 4.2.8, a textile ring and cover support a skull filled with alcohol used for bdud rtsi as part of an array dedicated to a wrathful deity.

In the practice of Buddhist tantra, the inner offering (nang mchod) of deity yoga might be made of the five sense organs in one of these vessels, or an offering of the five meats (sha lnga, Skt. 辫补帽肠补尘腻峁僺补) which are purified, rendered and empowered as bdud rtsi in a liturgical dynamic derived from historically 办腻辫腻濒颈办补 methods for ritualized charnel asceticism and the instrumentation of transgressive materials (see chapter 2). These offerings of ritually-transformed meats, organs, fluids and/or other bodily impurities are suited to wrathful yi dam as well as worldly and enlightened protectors (鈥�jigs rten gyi/鈥榡ig rten las 鈥榙as pa鈥檌 chos skyong), including local deities (yul lha).^[15]

This function as a vessel for the presentation of offerings to wrathful deities and protectors is moreover comprehensively illustrated in a visual cultural form called rgyan tshogs which was popularized in the Tibetan cultural sphere after the sixteenth century.^[16] In these types of painted arrays of offerings and ornaments鈥攕uch as the eighteenth or nineteenth century example in fig. 4.2.9 from a series of rgyan tshogs from central Tibet and now in the collection of the Wellcome Trust鈥攕kulls are shown filled with different suitable offerings (including the sense organs, at top left) and often supported on a tripod of human or skeletal heads.^[17] Similarly, in fig. 4.2.10, an illustration of a skull on a tripod of heads with flames and filled with the five meats is placed with other offerings on the exterior of a 尘补峁囜笉补濒补 installation dedicated to a wrathful deity or the monastery鈥檚 protector.

Figure 4.2.6: Skull with copper lid and stand, and white metal or silver liner at the entrance to the mgon khang at a monastery in Ladakh, March 2018.

Figure 4.2.7: Skull and wooden tripod for sale on consignment in West Bengal, August 2018.

Figure 4.2.8: Skull with metal liner, textile cover and support, filled with an alcoholic beverage representing the purified bdud rtsi in a temporary installation of offerings to a wrathful deity in a lha khang in Kathmandu, June 2018.

Figure 4.2.9: A painted array of offerings to the chos skyong Bhairava, including skulls on tripods of skeletal faces filled with a variety of suitable offerings, produced within a series of rgyan tshogs to wrathful deities and protectors in the 18-19th century and currently at the Wellcome Library (47091i).

Figure 4.2.10: A painted image of a skull over a tripod of human heads and flames containing animals of the five meats (sha lnga) positioned as an offering to a wrathful deity or protector in the 鈥�du khang of a monastery in Ladakh, April 2018.

Figure 4.2.11: A skull with silver or white metal rim decoration in the form of a line of skeletal faces, formerly used by a monk and tantric practitioner and inherited鈥攚ith a rkang gling 鈥攂y his descendant; Ladakh, March 2018.

Figure 4.2.12: Skull within a monastic collection with a shallow vee or chevron on one side (left) and a projection of the same shape opposite (right), in profile. Image by Christian Luczanits.

Figure 4.2.13: A skull in the storage of the British Museum (As1979,16.24 a-c) with copper-based metal ornament and stand, including a line of skeletal faces along the edge and four projections above the rim with a larger head of a protector at the front and three small buddhas, donated with a group of Tibetan objects acquired by a collector in the late 20th century, August 2017.

Figure 4.2.14: Interior of a skull similar to fig. 4.2.13, framed and supported with copper-based fittings, round base, and skeletal figures projecting above the rim at the Victoria and Albert Museum (IM.21-1928), March 2017.

Other ornamental techniques which reinforce the liturgical or ritual function of these objects include adjustments to the vessel鈥檚 edge where it is prone to damage. This may include a chevron cut into skull along the rim to facilitate handling or the addition of a metal liner along the vessel edge (figures 4.2.11 and 4.2.12). The liner鈥攐ften made with silver, cuprous alloy or white metal (a typically tin-based light industrial alloy used after the mid-nineteenth century)鈥攃an feature simple line-beading, engraving and jewels or, in more recent examples, a line of skeletal faces. Elements on the rim can be more or less decorative than structural, however, for example with figures or other projections above the edge of the vessel (figures 4.2.13 and 4.2.14). These two examples from UK museums鈥攅ach with a round-shaped copper base incised with lotus petals鈥攚ere likely produced for a speculative market as commodities before being collected in the Himalayas in the early twentieth century but this formal motif on the rim may have its origins in non-Tibetan workmanship as suggested, for example, in fig. 4.2.15 by the skull in the left hand of 痴补箩谤补惫腻谤腻丑墨 in this fourteenth century painting.^[18]

Figure 4.2.15: Painted thang ka (Np. paubha) with 痴补箩谤补惫腻谤腻丑墨 holding a skull with gold-colored rim with four projections in the left hand at center, 14th century from Nepal and now at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (2018.102).

At the same time, these supplemental features support a versatility of ritual functions for skulls in Tibetan material religion, including the preparation of empowered comestible substances in the tradition of bcud len (Skt. 谤补蝉补测腻苍补), for example as accomplished medicine (sman sgrub).^[19] This medicine is often created as a subsidiary ritual within larger, often public, major practice session (sgrub chen) where the skull is instrumentalized as a vessel for the combination and empowerment of the ingredients.^[20] James Gentry describes the capacity of the skull in this function as part of a 鈥渃atalyst continuum鈥濃�攁n activated network of ontological and relational efficacy鈥攚hich is established through the ritual and material process of sman sgrub and bcud len as ritual methodologies, including the eventual distribution and consumption of substances by participants.^[21] The addition of a metal liner protects the edge and interior of the skull from structural damage and abrasions or accretions which might result from this type of use (figures 4.2.16 and 4.2.17, see also figs. 4.2.6, 4.2.8 and 4.2.37).

Figures 4.2.16 and 4.2.17: Interior and profile of a skull within a monastic collection lined with a light-colored cuprous alloy. Images by Christian Luczanits.

In addition to the types of structural support described above, skulls can also be modified with surface decoration. In an example from Ladakh, colored butter is periodically renewed on a skull鈥攍ikely sourced from within the monastic community鈥攚hich is made publicly accessible at the new year (lo gsar) to receive offerings from visitors (figures 4.2.18 and 4.2.19).^[22] Many other skulls are painted red on the interior, which may indicate their use in the presentation or collection of bdud rtsi, for example at monthly mkha鈥� 鈥榞ro tshogs, an often-public gathering made according to the lunar calendar where, under the supervision of monastic and liturgical authorities, offerings are made to 岣嵞乲颈苍墨蝉 in a practice derived from the 办腻辫腻濒颈办补 tradition of 驳补峁嘺肠补办谤补.^[23] Surface decoration through low-relief carving and the addition of deity iconography to the exterior of the vessel is relatively recent innovation oriented towards the commercial market, with little evidence for any historical or liturgical precedents.^[24]

Figure 4.2.18 and 4.2.19: Interior and exterior of a skull lined and decorated with colored butter and used to collect offerings at the new year; Ladakh, April 2018.

Surface treatments can be more or less specialized and an inscribed skull at the British Museum鈥攁cquired abroad by a British collector before 1883鈥攅xhibits evidence of ritual activation through the application of written text (figures 4.2.20 and 4.2.21). A series of mantras have been added to the interior surface in a red, likely cinnabar-based paint and while the central text鈥�o峁� ya man ta ka hu峁�鈥攊s legible, the other lines are only partially preserved; these are Tibetan transliterations of Sanskrit names or syllables and difficult to contextualize without knowledge of the specific ritual methodology of which this skull was part.^[25] Furthermore, the generic mantra o峁� a hu峁�鈥攐ften used for purification鈥攊s written here four times and carved once on the exterior (fig 4.2.22), suggesting that this object鈥檚 ritual function was activated through the preparation of both the interior and exterior surfaces of the skull.

Figures 4.2.20 and 4.2.21: The interior of a skull inscribed in red ink with the names of deities and/or mantras, possibly related to a practice wherein the vessel was ritually and physically sealed. Photographed in white light (left) and using ImageJ software with D-Stretch add-in (right, filter: YRD): The central mantra鈥�o峁� ya man ta ka hu峁� 鈥攔uns vertically at the center with o峁� a hu峁� written once each on the front, back and on both sides; the five other mantras are given here as (clockwise from the top): o峁� mud ga ra dza hu峁�, o峁� dza na dza ka hu峁�, o峁� [鈥�] di hra hu峁�, o峁� a ro li ka hu峁�, o峁� bra dza [鈥�] da ha ka hu峁�.

Figure 4.2.22: Exterior of the same skull in the British Museum (1883, 1027.1) with incised o峁� a hu峁� and a sharp groove running parallel to the edge; note the damage just above the inscription, August 2017.

There are other indications of this skull鈥檚 ritual use and history as a cultural object evident in mechanical damage along the object rim: In fig. 4.2.22, there is a chisel-shaped wedge between a sharply carved line approximately one centimeter below the rim of the vessel, just above the inscribed mantra o峁� a hu峁�, as well as a six centimeter loss along one long side, visible in figs. 4.2.20 and 4.2.21. Consultations about the type of ritual for which this object was inscribed have produced inconclusive results though practices of gathering (g.yang 鈥榞ugs) or suppression (mnan pa)鈥攊n which skulls with suitable features (as determined by an informed ritual specialist) are prepared, activated and ritually sealed for storage鈥攁re not incompatible with this object鈥檚 features.^[26] Moreover, this skull鈥檚 condition and modifications鈥攑articularly the breakage and carved groove along the rim鈥攕upport the suggestion that an additional element was previously secured to the top of the vessel and removed forcibly before its acquisition by the British Museum, though this remains a speculative interpretation.

A number of alternative materials are also utilized in Tibetan and tantric material religion where skulls are inaccessible or unavailable. Coconut shells have been used historically for 办腻辫腻濒颈办补 methodologies since the spread and reform of yogin墨 tantra after the tenth century, as well as at present in Buddhist and tantric communities of the southern Himalayas (figure 4.2.23).^[27] Plastic bowls (see fig. 4.1.3) and resin (fig. 4.2.24) are also popular substitutes, often with surface decoration that reinforces its identification as a charnel vessel. Moreover, both resin and plaster can be cast in molds shaped from a human cranium in order to create suitable alternatives.^[28] Metal鈥攐ften a cuprous alloy, see fig. 4.2.8 on the altar at left鈥攊s also a common substrate for Th枚pa (thod pa), valued for its durability and capacity for ornamentation.32 These substitutions can facilitate the mobility and formal variation of ritual objects as well as participation by a larger community of non-specialist users.

Figure 4.2.23: Coconut shell painted red and white to resemble other types of thod pa, rNying ma lha khang in Sikkim, August 2018.

Figure 4.2.24: Slightly downscale skull replicas painted red and gold with tripod base in resin, for sale in a Chinese Tibetan neighborhood, September 2017.

However, vessels made from human crania are found in a diversity of settings and ritual arenas, used for individual and household practice as well as within institutions and monasteries for restricted audiences or during public events. This represents a significant expansion of methods and applications from the earliest 办腻辫腻濒颈办补 models of ritualized charnel asceticism explored in chapter 2 of this dissertation, though the use of human remains in yogic observance has been maintained and adapted through the Tibetan traditions of brtul zhugs spyod pa, for example, and by ritual specialists (sngags pa) and Buddhist tantric yogins (rnal 鈥榖yor pa) in a variety of teaching lineages (see fig. 1.2, for example).^[29] Domestic practitioners may keep skulls for personal use or to facilitate the rituals of visiting religious authorities and specialists (figure 4.2.25).^[30] Skulls are moreover used for individual practices within an institutional rubric, for example as seen in an eighteenth century thang ka featuring a dGe lugs lineage holder using the vessel to make an offering to 驰补尘腻苍迟补办补 (gShin rje gshed) during the performance of deity yoga (yi dam) in a charnel setting (figure 4.2.26).^[31] Thus depending on the practitioner, their skills, religious education and social setting, a skull may be used daily or infrequently, and for general applications or a highly formalized, ritually-specified use.

Figure 4.2.25: Skull with interior darkening from regular use in domestic rituals at a home in Khams, November 2017. In the photo, the sprul sku 鈥楯am dbyangs mkhyen brtse chos kyi blo gros (1893-1959) has a skull with metal stand and rdo rje handle in his array of implements, farthest right.

Figure 4.2.26: dGe lugs bla ma performing an offering to the deity 驰补尘腻苍迟补办补 with a skull in the right hand in a charnel setting (see bound corpse and vulture at bottom right); another skull holds red gtor ma, offerings to the wrathful deity, at the bla ma鈥檚 right, 18th century thang ka from Tibet now in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (06.1900).

Figure 4.2.27: A monk uses a long-handled spoon to activate and distribute liquid from a skull with metal liner and triangular base, placed in an array of offerings during a publicly accessible lo gsar ritual in Khams. Image by Eleanor Moseman.

Skulls are also used within monastic communities for rituals which facilitate public or collective engagement, including major practice sessions (sgrub chen), as part of various empowerments (dbang chen), or at gatherings (tshogs) where the vessels are used to collect, present or distribute offerings and/or bdud rtsi (figure 4.2.27).^[32] The occasions for these communal practices may be specific to local traditions, protectors, lineages, institutions or political authorities; they may also be funerary or commemorative.^[33] Moreover, in these public settings and displays, vessels made from skulls donated by members of a community reinforce continuities between its ritual specialists and the lay practitioners who support them and by whom they are supported, as well as the efficacy and accessibility of that institution鈥檚 teachings and methodologies.

Figures 4.2.28-31: A set of bandha at the Wellcome Collection (A20948 A-D) exhibiting accumulated grime, mechanical damage, topical polishing and other signs of use in zhva nag 鈥�chams.

One of these public ritual performances involves a technically and formally specific type of skull-based object shaped into a shallow vessel to which are attached tassels of human hair and/or silk pennants (figure 4.2.28-4.2.31). These objects, called bandha (or bhandha), are used in zhva nag 鈥榗丑补尘蝉 (black hat dance) as well as related practices of sgrol ba to invite, subdue and maintain a beneficial relationship with protectors and local deities.^[34] Drawing on the rNying ma 尘补丑腻测辞驳补 scholarship of the twelfth century Nyang ral nyi ma 鈥榦d zer, the fifth Dalai Lama Ngag dbang blo bzang rgya mtsho (1617-1682) would describe the origins of 鈥�chams with Padmasambhava鈥檚 performance of sgrol ba and 痴补箩谤补办墨濒补 (rDo rje phur pa) at bSam yas.^[35] This type of 鈥�chams is distinguished by the large black lacquered hat worn by the primary ritual actor(s) as well as that performer鈥檚 frequent paired use of phur pa and bandha (figures 4.2.32 and 4.2.33).^[36] Though handled primarily by institutional specialists in a highly formalized setting, zhva nag 鈥榗丑补尘蝉 is one of the most visibly accessible ways in which skulls are regularly instrumentalized as ritual objects in Tibetan and Himalayan Buddhist communities.

Figure 4.2.32: Detail of a 17th century painting of 鈥楯am dbyangs mthu stobs dbang phyug (b. 1588) as a zhva nag performer holding a skull bandha in his left hand with a curved knife or chopper (gri gug) in his right. In many of the surrounding illustrations, he is using the same implements to perform the black hat ritual for gathered audiences.

Figure 4.2.33: Black hat performers under the Potala in Lhasa, date unknown. The figure in the foreground holds a bandha in his left hand opposite a brass vessel in his right. Image courtesy the Tibet Museum Archives, Dharamsala.

At the same time, as this dissertation explored more extensively in its second and third chapters, skulls have been a consistent feature of Tibetan visual culture since the twelfth and thirteenth centuries through the iconography of wrathful deities, protectors, intermediaries (e.g. mkha鈥� 鈥榞ro ma) and accomplished practitioners of Buddhist 尘补丑腻测辞驳补 and yogin墨 tantra (e.g. siddhas). These vessels have also often been used to illustrate the expertise of lineage founders and various teachers like Padmasambhava and Pha dam pa Sangs rgyas as authorities in tantric methodologies of ritualized charnel asceticism. Moreover, as liturgical objects, skulls are depicted in 尘补峁囜笉补濒补 and paintings of gathered offerings (rgyan tshogs) presented to wrathful deities and protectors (see figs. 2.41, 4.2.9 and 4.2.10).

In the proliferation of iconographies for Buddhist tantra and which have been expanded and historically cultivated especially in Tibet and its neighboring regions, skulls exhibit a variety of idiosyncratic forms and renderings, including the concave, inward-curving shape of Kashmiri depictions from Alchi and the inclusion of an upper jaw for images of the four-armed protector 惭补丑腻办腻濒补 from southeastern China (figs. 4.2.34 and 4.2.25, respectively). In Tibetan images, skulls are nearly always filled, emphasizing their use as a vessel for the collection, empowerment and/or transformation of materials in a tantric setting.

Figure 4.2.34: Detail of the protector 惭补丑腻办腻濒补 over the door to the Alchi gSum brtsegs, c. 1220. Note the concave, almost hooked rim shape of the skull characteristic to Kashmiri renderings.

Figure 4.2.35: 惭补丑腻办腻濒补 holding a skull in the front left hand with the top jaw intact and upper teeth visible, 12th century, likely from Dali (Yunnan) and now in a private collection; see also fig. 2.24.

In addition to their illustrated contextualization, these objects are subject to specific strategies for care and handling: Where they are on display or stored as vessels鈥�i.e. open and resting on the crown鈥攑ractitioners and local custodians often place seeds, flowers, grains or other small offerings in order to maintain the object鈥檚 efficacy and demonstrate or acknowledge its value, a dynamic which is common to other forms of Buddhist liturgical vessels (figure 4.2.36).^[37] Other recommendations may be more specialized to the modes of tantra in which they are used: Loseries-Leick, for example, has described using human fat and saffron to condition and polish the exterior surface of her own instrument.42 These strategies for maintenance might also be conditioned by tantric pedagogy, initiation and oral instructions which are inaccessible to a non-practitioner. Furthermore, the regular use of skulls as ritual objects may contribute to an accumulation of unspecified grime and/or deposits (fig.4.2.37). Other common evidence of wear includes breakage along the rim, the loss of supplementary and ornamental materials and alterations made to facilitate sale or trade amongst practitioners, and/or acquisition by museums or collectors (e.g. fig. 4.2.22).

Figure 4.2.36: Skulls on display at the Namgyal Institute of Tibetology, Gangtok, Sikkim with seeds from the Oroxylum indicum, or 鈥榮word of Damocles鈥�, a common ornamental offering in Buddhist communities of the Himalayas, July 2018.

Figure 4.2.37: Skull in a monastic collection with accumulated and multi-colored deposits resulting from periodic use as a liturgical vessel. Image by Christian Luczanits.

In summary, this section has described a number of generalized applications for skulls in Tibetan material religion as well as a selection of their forms and technologies. This work has moreover used these objects and their materials in order to engage with a variety of informants across the Himalayan region and its diverse communities of practitioners. Finally, this section has sought to connect present cultural and religious historical narratives on the use of skulls as ritual objects in Tibet and Buddhist tantra to sources introduced in the previous chapters.

Footnotes and references:

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[1]:

Balfour, 鈥淟ife of an Aghori fakir鈥�, 355. This information is repeated by European and other non-Tibetan scholars鈥攕ee note 11 below鈥攖hough uncorroborated by the findings of this research.

[2]:

Martin Hanker has compiled and translated a number of these texts from various teaching lineages and Tibetan liturgical traditions in his 2018 MA dissertation from Charles University (op.cit.) including sources dated from the twelfth to nineteenth centuries. See also W.W. Rockhill on 鈥済ood鈥� versus 鈥渂ad鈥� skulls according to one thod brtags in idem., 鈥淥n the use of skulls in Lamaist ceremonies,鈥� Journal of the American Oriental Society 14 (1890), xxiv-xxxi.

[3]:

As told by the skull鈥檚 monastic user and custodian and reconfirmed by other lay and monastic practitioner-informants and material specialists across the region, November-December 2017, February-August 2018. Rockhill鈥檚 translation also records evidence for the valorization of a skull with this appearance, ibid., xxvii.

[4]:

At the same time, other sources emphasized that an older skull vessel was more valuable because it had accumulated merit through use; monastic lineage holders and Buddhist and non-Buddhist vendor informants in Khams and A mdo, September -December 2017.

[5]:

For a related discussion of human remains as relics and rten, or support for practice, and their capacity to communicate byin rlabs see Martin, 鈥�Pearls from bones,鈥� 275ff. Martin notes two skulls with a self-arisen (rang byung, see below) letter A (嘟�) were described at pilgrimage sites by historic Tibetan guidebooks, indicating their popular appeal, ibid., 276. See also Loseries-Leick on 鈥淗uman bones and the wonders of precious relics鈥�, in op.cit., 133-151 for her descriptions of figures and letters observed in human remains and their connection to the death of an accomplished practitioner.

[6]:

A material specialist in West Bengal gave anecdotal evidence for the ritual and social valorization for 23 of these holes in the skull of a presumed sex worker in early twentieth century Lhasa, July 2018. The skulls of sex workers are elsewhere instrumentalized for making specific types of offerings to wrathful deities or protectors, Loseries-Leick, op.cit., 93.

[7]:

Another skull with rang byung features鈥攊ncluding the mantra o峁� a hu峁� and a four-armed sPyan ras gzigs, as well as two holes from 鈥�pho ba 鈥攚as encountered in the home of a prosperous family in Khams whose patriarch had purchased the object in his youth and preserved it despite many offers to sell it over four decades, December 2017; photo documentation was not attempted. He attributed the success of his children and stability of their home to the proper maintenance of this skull.

[8]:

Harris, Museum on the Roof of the World, 34-38. The identification of this skull with the sixth century BCE scholar Confucius (Kong fu zi) was motivated by the popular appeal of Chinese culture in the UK at that time. Harris notes that this skull with rang byung markings was likely preserved by practitioners in a shrine or altar with occasional use as a ritual vessel.

[9]:

Nick Pearce, 鈥淔rom relic to relic: A brief history of the skull of Confucius鈥�, Journal of the History of Collections 26, no. 2 (2014), 212. Pearce speculates that, based on its rang byung markings, it was likely the skull of a Buddhist practitioner, and not a political enemy.

[10]:

Harris finds that this base and lid were described as 鈥渟olid gold鈥� by nineteenth century authors (op.cit., 35) but this has not yet been documented in similar examples preserved in museum collections.

[11]:

Loseries-Leick, op.cit., 95. A monastic practitioner (non-tantric specialist) in Nangchen (Khams) also observed that an investment in ornamental features is more often made when the donor of the skull was a significant figure in the community or lineage, December 2017.

[12]:

Tadeusz Skorupski, 鈥淭ibetan homa rites according to the gter ma 迟谤补诲颈迟颈辞苍鈥� The Tibet Journal 20, no. 4 (1995): 5. Skorupski finds that Buddhist homa rituals are categorized as fierce, pacifying or enriching in seventh or eighth century tantric sources. Only fierce practices use a triangular hearth (see ibid., 40). See also Cantwell and Mayer, Early Tibetan Documents on Phur pa, 185 for evidence of the use of triangular homa pits 鈥渙rnamented by skulls鈥� for destructive practices at Dunhuang.

[13]:

This three-headed tripod is seen under the skull holding offerings to the left of the donor on the bottom right of the thirteenth century paintings of the protector 惭补丑腻办腻濒补 in fig. 2.28 and Che mchog Heruka in fig. 2.30.

[14]:

Simplified support elements for skulls in wood, metal and cloth were encountered in various lha khang, shops and home altars in Khams, A mdo, Ladakh, Kathmandu, West Bengal and Sikkim, November 2017-August 2018. Loseries-Leick describes positioning the left hand as a tripod at the base of the vessel during use, op.cit., 96.

[15]:

Nebesky-Wojkowitz, Oracles and Demons of Tibet, 343ff, chapter 18 on 鈥淪acrificial objects and offerings鈥�.

[16]:

Black-ground rgyan tshogs have objects specialized to wrathful deities and protectors, therefore many made with charnel materials, see Ir猫ne Martin du Gard, 鈥淯ne peinture d鈥檕ffrandes 脿 dPal-ldan dmag-zor rgyal-ma鈥�, Arts Asiatiques 40 (1985), 76. These paintings have also been referred to as bskang rdzas, the complete materials for a sacrificial offering (ibid., 81n1). See other examples with rkang gling and thod rnga in sections 4.4 and 4.5.

[17]:

Described and reproduced in Gyurme Dorje, 鈥淎 rare series of Tibetan banners,鈥� in Pearls of the Orient: Asian Treasures of the Wellcome Library, ed. Nigel Allan (London: Serindia Publications, 2003), 161-177.

[18]:

In Kathmandu, it was observed that these projections and their position around the edge鈥攐ne in front with another three figures distributed around the circumference鈥攁re similar to a form of metal lamp used in Newar Buddhism dated to the seventeenth century or before, June and July 2018. Note as well, however, the three projections on the rim of the skull in the hand of Guru Rinpoche from a thirteenth century image at Tabo, fig. 2.29.

[19]:

See chapter 2 on the relation of Tibetan practices to non-Buddhist and 办腻辫腻濒颈办补 sources as well as Cantwell, 鈥淩eflections on 谤补蝉补测腻苍补,鈥� 183 especially for the cultivation of these applications for skulls in the rNying ma corpus.

[20]:

See, for example, Cathy Cantwell, 鈥淭he medicinal accomplishment (sman sgrub) in the Dudjom Meteoric Iron Razor (gnam lcag spu gri) tradition: Reflections on the ritual and meditative practice at a monastery in Southern Bhutan鈥�, Journal of the Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies no. 8 (2015), 49-95 as well as Frances Garrett, 鈥淭he alchemy of accomplishing medicine (sman sgrub): Situating the Yuthok Heart Essence (g.Yu thog snying thig) in Literature and History,鈥� Journal of Indian Philosophy 37 (2009). Malville also mentions the use of a skull in the preparation of sman sgrub during Mani Rimdu, op.cit., 201.

[21]:

Gentry, op.cit., 327. A tantric practitioner and translator in Sikkim likewise described the function of the skull as similar to a fermentation agent which catalyzes the formation of the medicine from its constituent parts, July 2018. This emphasis on fermentation and material continuity (phab gta鈥�) for the production of sman sgrub is also observed by Cantwell (ibid., 65) who also sees the skull used as a unit of measure for the combination of ingredients (p.73).

[22]:

This object was stored with other liturgical and ritual implements in a cupboard within the 鈥�du khang and was interpreted for me by monastic material specialists from this community in Ladakh, April 2018.

[23]:

See chapter 2 for a history of tshogs in sources for Buddhist tantra. This is most often on the 25th day of the lunar month though the date can vary between lineages, based on participation and observations made in Ladakh, Kathmandu, West Bengal and Sikkim, April -August 2018. The charnel character of these practices has been significantly reduced with offerings made of alcohol or fruit juice and packaged snacks, as well as specific types of gtor ma. The suggestion that the red interior of these skulls is related to the collection of bdud rtsi came from a dGe lugs sprul sku in West Bengal, August 2018.

[24]:

This was repeated by Newar carvers who produce these objects and specialize in bone, shell and stone currently working in the Kathmandu valley, June 2018. These craftspeople often use electric hand tools (see fig. 4.3.23) and apply motor oil or a solution of potassium permanganate in order to create an artificial patina on commercial products.

[25]:

The central deity of this specific practice is ostensibly 驰补尘腻苍迟补办补. My thanks to curator Dr. Imma Ramos and imaging scientist Joanne Dyer at the British Museum for facilitating the study of these transcriptions and this object.

[26]:

Thanks to Dr. Cathy Cantwell and Lopon P. Ogyan Tanzin, as well as Dr. James Gentry for these suggestions (personal correspondence, 3 June and 25 July 2019, respectively). Another suggestion is that this skull was inscribed for use to prepare or cultivate sman sgrub in an empowerment dedicated to 驰补尘腻苍迟补办补; as told by a rNying ma bla ma in Kathmandu, June 2018. Most of the practitioners and specialists I consulted on fieldwork had never encountered this type of object. On evidence for mnan pa as ritual suppression and evidence for the use of human as well as animal skulls in this tradition of 尘补丑腻测辞驳补 tantra, see Cantwell and Mayer, Early Tibetan Documents on Phur pa, 20; see also Cantwell, 鈥淭he Action Phurpa鈥�, 20 on the use and burial of skulls in suppression rituals in the rNying ma corpus.

[27]:

Sanderson relates this recommended us of coconut shells to the tenth-eleventh century author Abhinavagupta, 鈥�艢补颈惫颈蝉尘 and the tantric traditions,鈥� 149. A non-Buddhist tantric specialist at Pa艣upatin膩th in Kathmandu described using a coconut shell instead of a skull in response to the increasing police enforcement of regulations against the circulation of human remains, June 2018.

[28]:

One elderly scholar and lay practitioner in Khams reports that, although he owns a human skull, he uses a plaster copy to travel because it is easier to transport, November 2018.

[29]:

See chapters 2 and 3 on historical sources for the use of these objects in ascetic practice and Divalerio, op.cit., passim for the cultivation of brtul zhugs spoyd pa traditions by monastic communities, particularly in bKa鈥� brgyud lineages.

[30]:

I have encountered skulls in the homes of a number of domestic and lay practitioners as well as artists and crafts people in Khams, Dharamsala area, Ladakh, Kathmandu and Sikkim, November 2017 -August 2018.

[31]:

The iconography of this painting is treated more thoroughly in Ayesha Fuentes, 鈥淯tilizing terror: On the adoption and refinement of skull cups in Tibetan Buddhism,鈥� (MA thesis, Tufts University, 2011).

[32]:

Based on observations made in Khams (September 2017), Ladakh, Kathmandu, West Bengal and Sikkim (April -August 2018) as well as anecdotal evidence from informants across the region. Participating in public rituals鈥攊ncluding non-tantric practices like bskor ba (circumambulation) or daily protector observances鈥攚as a key strategy of my fieldwork methodology.

[33]:

These types of periodic rituals鈥攊ncluding the performance of 鈥�chams, 岣嵞乲颈苍墨 tshogs, 惭补丑腻办腻濒补 and protector pujas 鈥攚ere directly observed or described within monasteries, lha khang, and national or regional governmental institutions in Khams, Ladakh, Kathmandu, West Bengal and Sikkim, November 2017, April -August 2018 as well as multiple locations in Bhutan between August 2013 and January 2015. Moreover at one site in Ladakh, a skull and mummified arm have been incorporated into the display of the main figure of the monastery鈥檚 protector in the mgon khang; according to local sources, the skull and arm were taken from a defeated military leader after a failed invasion of the region during the sixteenth century; see article by students of the Government Degree College in a publication by the Himalayan Cultural Heritage Foundation in Leh: Heritage Himalaya 2, no. 1 (January -June 2017), 26.

[34]:

See chapter 2 on the Tibetan expansion of sgrol ba and phur pa, especially within the rNying ma traditions. On the origins of 鈥�chams and its relationship to sources for 尘补丑腻测辞驳补 tantra, see Cantwell, 鈥淎 black hat ritual dance,鈥� 16ff.

[35]:

This manual and study of 鈥�chams is translated in Ren茅 de Nebesky-Wojkowitz, 鈥淭he Black Hat Dancers,鈥� in Tibetan Religious Dances, 93-98. See also Mona Schrempf, 鈥淭ibetan ritual dances and the transformation of space,鈥� The Tibet Journal 19, no. 2 (1994): 95-120. As noted by Schrempf, there are two primary liturgical dance traditions in Tibetan monasticism, 鈥�chams and gur, though the former is more often made public鈥攁nd thus accessible for study and documentation by a non-practitioner鈥攚hile the latter is performed within the institution. Cantwell and Mayer moreover find that the Phur bu ngan las 鈥榙as pa鈥檌 rgyud chen po is considered a canonical source for both rNying ma and Sa skya phur pa traditions of 痴补箩谤补办墨濒补 practice, and represents an integration of Tibetan and Indian charnel ritual methodologies recorded before the late eleventh century, idem., 鈥淭he Bon Ka ba nag po and the Rnying ma phur pa 迟谤补诲颈迟颈辞苍鈥�, 45.

[36]:

See Cantwell, 鈥淎 black hat ritual dance,鈥� 23 for an illustration and discussion of this hat and other aspects of the costume and ibid., 16 for an explanation of the implements. See also Nebesky-Wojkowitz, ibid, 94-95. Note that the fifth Dalai Lama鈥檚 seventeenth century ritual manual translated here does not describe the black hat which is characteristically worn by performers of this tradition鈥檚 rtsa 鈥榗丑补尘蝉, or root practice of liturgical dance, and who are often the most advanced or senior practitioners in the monastic community. See fig. 2.28 for a figure wearing this hat and holding a phur pa on the lower right side of a thirteenth century painting featuring the Sa skya protector 惭补丑腻办腻濒补 笔补帽箩补谤补苍腻迟丑补.

[37]:

If the skull is turned down鈥�i.e. resting on the rim with the crown up鈥攐r covered, this is also an acceptable position for storage. This has been explained or demonstrated by numerous informants (lay and monastic practitioners of various lineages) in Khams, Ladakh, Kathmandu and Sikkim, November 2017 -August 2018.