Bronze Vajrayana Buddhist ritual thunderbolt dagger, phurpa. Three-sided blade topped by head of makara, sea monster, out of whose mouth emerge two intertwined snakes crawling down each side of blade, carved in relief. Hilt begins and ends with a geometrically carved knot flanked by decorative vegetation. In the middle of hilt, two lotuses meet. Hilt topped with three heads surrounding surface, expressions wrathful, with bulging eyes, fangs, thick eyebrows, moustaches and beards, with third eyes on foreheads. Headdress in relief with three skulls, narrows towards top in three steps, carved lotuses in the middle. Pinnacle at centre is five-pronged vajra.
