Thighbone trumpet

Museum number:
9-22054
Permalink:
ark:/21549/hm21090022054
Alternate number:
BY.T-195 and T-195 (original number)
Description:
This is a ritual trumpet fashioned from a human thigh bone. It has a metal mouth piece made of silver andcopper. It is wrapped at the bottom with skin, perhaps human skin or leather. It is used extensively in the popular "Chod" ritual. It functions, when blown in the ritual context by a qualified yogin, to summon all living beings, including every manner of ghost and goblin, to a great feast. In the Chod ritual, the thighbone trumpet is blown at the beginning and occasionally during the procedure, and the yogin then puts it down and serves up the feast while chanting melodiously and play the large hand drum (Chod damaru) with his right hand and the ghanta bell with his left. The use of human bone is necessary as the yogin is ritually transforming his own flesh and blood into offerings suitable for the various classes of living beings. See: T-26, T-27, T-195
Collection place:
Tibet
Verbatim coll. place:
Tibet
Collector:
Theos C. Bernard
Materials:
Bone (material), Copper (metal), Silver (metal), and Skin (collagenous material)
Object type:
ethnography
Object class:
Femurs and Trumpets (aerophones)
Function:
5.4 Secular and Religious Musical Instruments
Production date:
19th century
Department:
Asia (except western Russia)
Images:
Hearst Museum object 1 of 2 titled Thighbone trumpet, accession number 9-22054, described as This is a ritual trumpet fashioned from a human thigh bone. It has a metal mouth piece made of silver andcopper. It is wrapped at the bottom with skin, perhaps human skin or leather. It is used extensively in the popular "Chod" ritual. It functions, when blown in the ritual context by a qualified yogin, to summon all living beings, including every manner of ghost and goblin, to a great feast. In the Chod ritual, the thighbone trumpet is blown at the beginning and occasionally during the procedure, and the yogin then puts it down and serves up the feast while chanting melodiously and play the large hand drum (Chod damaru) with his right hand and the ghanta bell with his left. The use of human bone is necessary as the yogin is ritually transforming his own flesh and blood into offerings suitable for the various classes of living beings. See: T-26, T-27, T-195Hearst Museum object 2 of 2 titled Thighbone trumpet, accession number 9-22054, described as This is a ritual trumpet fashioned from a human thigh bone. It has a metal mouth piece made of silver andcopper. It is wrapped at the bottom with skin, perhaps human skin or leather. It is used extensively in the popular "Chod" ritual. It functions, when blown in the ritual context by a qualified yogin, to summon all living beings, including every manner of ghost and goblin, to a great feast. In the Chod ritual, the thighbone trumpet is blown at the beginning and occasionally during the procedure, and the yogin then puts it down and serves up the feast while chanting melodiously and play the large hand drum (Chod damaru) with his right hand and the ghanta bell with his left. The use of human bone is necessary as the yogin is ritually transforming his own flesh and blood into offerings suitable for the various classes of living beings. See: T-26, T-27, T-195

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