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The phurba (Tibetan: ཕུར་པ or ཕུར་བ, Wylie: phur pa or phur ba; alternate transliterations: phurpa, phurbu, purbha, or phurpu) [needs IPA] or kīla (Sanskrit Devanagari: कील; IAST: kīla) is a three-sided peg, stake, knife, or nail-like ritual implement deeply rooted in Indo-Tibetan Buddhism and Bön traditions.
The kartika (Skt.) or curved knife symbolizes the cutting of conventional wisdom by the ultimate insight into emptiness. It is usually present as a pair, together with the skullcup, filled with wisdom nectar. On a more simple level, the skull is a reminder of (our) impermanence. Between the knife and the handle is a makara-head, a mythical monster.
'Kapala' (Tibetan: ཀ་པ་ལ་, Wylie: kapala) is a loan word into Tibetan from Sanskrit kapāla (Devanagari: कपाल) referring to the skull or forehead, usually of a human. By association, it refers to the ritual skullcup fashioned out of a human cranium.
Tibetan was originally one of the scripts in the first version of the Unicode Standard in 1991, in the Unicode block U+1000–U+104F. However, in 1993, in version 1.1, it was removed (the code points it took up would later be used for the Burmese script in version 3.0). The Tibetan script was re-added in July, 1996 with the release of version 2.0.
In Tibetan art, various wrathful deities, including the dharmapalas, wear the mundamala, a five-skull crown and human or animal skins. [19] Manifestations of Akshobhya are generally fearsome and are depicted wearing the mundamala as well as skulls and serpents. These include Acala, Heruka, Chakrasamvara and Yamantaka. [20]
In the Vajrayana of Tibetan Buddhism, the symbol of the skull-topped trident (khaṭvānga) is said to be inspired by its association with the Kāpālikas. [3] Pictured here is an ivory khaṭvāṅga, 15th century Chinese art, Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Uchen script is a written Tibetan script that uses alphabetic characters to physically record the spoken languages of Tibet and Bhutan. Uchen script emerged in between the seventh and early eighth century, alongside the formation and development of the Tibetan Empire.
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