UBB.threads Forums General Interest Other Hobbies and Collections, like sports cars, movies, music,etc Tibetan Phurba Dagger

This Tibetan Phurba Dagger and Magic Axe are my wife's. I just thought I would share because they are cool.

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Thanks for posting, those are nicely decorated pieces. I have a Phurba dagger which is most likely from modern Nepal, and would be very humble in this company.

The triad of deities on the hilt are especially intriguing.

Any idea of the metal? Silver?

Best Regards,

B.A.Vierling

I am not sure about the metal, I hate to admit it but my wife knows more about these than I do.They are very heavy and much more beautiful in person.

Are these like dress or ceremonial items?
Who used them?

Mark

Phurba Daggers are an element of Tibetan magickal practice and as such served the same purpose as a western Athame. These were often made of wood and were simple foci. These daggers also were traditionally for the use of hunting demons. Certain demons however, are immune to attack from any earthly weapon. Thus when a meteor fell out of the sky, certain Lamas,Tulkus and Rinpoche would scramble to capture it and then use it's metal for the production of these Phurbas. There was only one problem... The demons that were destroyed by these weapons managed to taint them with their dying curses. The Phurbas became fetishes after a fashion and developed powerful wills of their own.

They were powerful weapons,Tibetan black magicians coveted them, and even the followers of the light had difficulty restraining them.You can see how that might be a difficulty. Tibetan Magicians have warred for ages for control of these fetishes. Those that serve the darkness want them for their fell power and the fact that they strike abject terror into all spirits. Phurba Cults have sprung up which revere these darkly powerful fetishes as incarnate gods(like a household god of some sort.)

Those who serve the light often capture these weapons to keep them out of the wrong hands and to use as a teaching tool of sorts.Perhaps as a reminder against personal hubris too. Many construct stands or other containment that place the demon within a deep slumber. At times they are taken out and used against demons or entrusted to those who will.(these people had better be able prove their worthiness.)

Powers: The Phurba has many abilities,

-It causes aggravated damage and double damage to spirits. (spirit 2)

-It's capable of moving under it's own power by flying about and is quite fast and capable of lifting a man off the ground.(when attempting to resist the Phurba by main strength, the Phurba has a strength of 4. unless Time Magick or some other cheat is used, you will not be able to outrun it.) (forces3)

- The faces on either side of the pommel can animate and bite anyone gripping the handle.(this causes completely negligible damage but requires a Sta roll against a diff of 8 to hang on to it.

-It can unerringly track any being whose blood it has already tasted(Corr 2,Life 1)

-anyone killed by a Phurba,has his psychic linkages severed and is thrust into oblivion.

-Victims of the Phurba never return as ghosts.

(no one is sure whether this happens to awakened beings or not. at very least they'll have to deal with a harrowing.) This also has the strange effect of completely erasing the cause of death to any form of scrying except Time Magick. Prime,Spirit and Mind Magick will yield nothing in term of sensory impressions and even Necromancy will draw a blank. (this is not a true power of the Dagger.it's more of a strange side effect.)

Any Euthanatos using this dagger should keep a close eye on his Jhor taint.

-it should also be noted that since the phurba's blade is triangular,wounds that are caused by it will not close by themselves.(those wounded will continue to lose blood until they receive medical attention or life Magick.) this causes the victim to lose 1 health level every 4 turns and to make a stamina check to see if you pass out. (thankfully this roll can only be failed but not botched.)

-Lastly, Phurba are immune to destruction with Entropy,Matter or Forces magick.Attempting to use any kind of Magick to attack or control the dagger will invite attack.

Mastering the Phurba:

The only thing that makes these powerful weapons hard to deal with is the fact that they must be mastered. Each time a Phurba is drawn, the user must make 3 successes on a willpower roll against a 7. Only by attuning one self to the Phurba may this difficulty be sidestepped. This is a long arduous process that requires the Mage collect 30 successes on willpower rolls. each roll requires the expenditure of 1 point so you see that mastering the Phurba will take a long time.(especially if you ever botch, then look out. because the blade will be uncontrolled. Once each month the Mage using the Phurba must expend a point of willpower at each new moon or his control will begin to slip. Once a Mage has attuned himself to a Phurba he may use it as a unique foci for forces and entropy Magick.

Personality: Phurba dagger seem to exhibit a will of their own.however they do not have any of the intellect to speak of. they only possess a low animal cunning that want to kill and kill again.(unless restrained) if allowed to run wild, the Phurba will slay anyone near it and keep slaying people until stopped. one would think that evil Mages would have a leg up on taming these tools, but these Daggers are Anti-life and will kill anything.

Hello,

With all due respect, much of that description seems to be culled from a role playing game or some similar fantasy syntax. This account should not be taken to belittle the significance of these actual relics, which play a role in ceremonial Tibetan Buddhism.

The dagger is also known as a Kila. The example Ivco2000 posted also appears to have incorporated the ceremonial thunderbolt, known as a Dorje. This makes it additionally interesting.

My limited understanding is that they were to be made of meteoric iron, but because of limited resources were more often made from brass & terrestrial iron. The more recent example I have from Nepal is made of brass. I haven't seen any made of silver, as possibly appears above (?), which is why I was curious.

The three deities on the pommel signify joy, peach and wrath.

A very basic statement to make about these relics is that they were originally used by Shamans to exorcise evil spirits, and later became assimilated into the institutionalized rituals of Tibetan Buddhism.

They are not weapons in a literal sense.

Not an expert my any means, but I did feel that the somewhat fantastical description above needed to be addressed.

Best Regards,

B.A.Vierling

Apologies, there are a few typos in my post. The fourth paragraph should read; ' joy, peace, and wrath'

last sentence should read ' not an expert by any means.. '

thanks

Like I said I know little to nothing about the Daggers. I did get that description off of a web site. I went to many and they all said the same thing more or less. Thanks for being more down to earth.