Cleveland Museum of Art
Three-pronged Vajra Pestle (Sankosho)
- Date
- early 1300s
- Medium
- gilt bronze
- Culture
- Japan, Kamakura period (1185–1333)
- Department
- Japanese Art
- Institution
- Cleveland Museum of Art
Called a vajra in Sanskrit, a pestle of this kind is an Esoteric Buddhist ritual implement derived from the thunderbolt held by the Indian Vedic god Indra. The round forms along the center of the handle, known as demon eyes, are rather compressed in this example, and the lotus petal shapes near the prongs are quite sharply delineated. The vajra is said to tear through ignorance like a powerful thunderbolt.
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