Bell with clapper

Museum number:
9-12917
Permalink:
ark:/21549/hm21090012917
Accession number:
Acc.2910
Description:
Cast brass hand bell with a clapper; handle with garuda finials and serpent heads (2 garudas, 5 serpents heads). Native name and context: "ghanti" (bell). Used in "puja" (worship) by Hindus all over India. Held by its shaft, the bell is rung at the beginning of worship as a signal for demons to depart and gods to appear. Symbols of the presiding deity are worked into the ornamentation at the top of the handle, which is often surmounted by a cobra bowl representing Ananta, the cosmic serpent. Vishnu is represented on this specimen by Garuda, (half man, half eagle), his vehicle and Hanuman, the vehicle of Rama his seventh incarnation. Height 22.3 cm.
Donor:
Mr. and Mrs. Thomas J. Ready, Jr. Fund and Niloufer Hirschmann Ichaporia
Collection place:
Gujarat State, India
Collector:
Niloufer Hirschmann Ichaporia
Person depicted:
Vishnu (Hindu deity)
Object type:
ethnography
Object class:
Bells (idiophones)
Function:
5.1 Religion and Divination: Objects and garb associated with practices reflecting submission, devotion, obedience, and service to supernatural agencies
Accession date:
December 7, 1972
Department:
Asia (except western Russia)
Loans:
S1977-1978 #35: El Camino College (February 10, 1978–June 27, 1978)
Images:
Hearst Museum object 1 of 2 titled Bell with clapper, accession number 9-12917, described as Cast brass hand bell with a clapper; handle with garuda finials and serpent heads (2 garudas, 5 serpents heads). Native name and context: "ghanti" (bell). Used in "puja" (worship) by Hindus all over India. Held by its shaft, the bell is rung at the beginning of worship as a signal for demons to depart and gods to appear. Symbols of the presiding deity are worked into the ornamentation at the top of the handle, which is often surmounted by a cobra bowl representing Ananta, the cosmic serpent. Vishnu is represented on this specimen by Garuda, (half man, half eagle), his vehicle and Hanuman, the vehicle of Rama his seventh incarnation. Height 22.3 cm.Hearst Museum object 2 of 2 titled Bell with clapper, accession number 9-12917, described as Cast brass hand bell with a clapper; handle with garuda finials and serpent heads (2 garudas, 5 serpents heads). Native name and context: "ghanti" (bell). Used in "puja" (worship) by Hindus all over India. Held by its shaft, the bell is rung at the beginning of worship as a signal for demons to depart and gods to appear. Symbols of the presiding deity are worked into the ornamentation at the top of the handle, which is often surmounted by a cobra bowl representing Ananta, the cosmic serpent. Vishnu is represented on this specimen by Garuda, (half man, half eagle), his vehicle and Hanuman, the vehicle of Rama his seventh incarnation. Height 22.3 cm.
Legacy documentation:
Documentation associated with Hearst Museum object titled Bell with clapper, accession number 9-12917, described as Cast brass hand bell with a clapper; handle with garuda finials and serpent heads (2 garudas, 5 serpents heads). Native name and context: "ghanti" (bell). Used in "puja" (worship) by Hindus all over India. Held by its shaft, the bell is rung at the beginning of worship as a signal for demons to depart and gods to appear. Symbols of the presiding deity are worked into the ornamentation at the top of the handle, which is often surmounted by a cobra bowl representing Ananta, the cosmic serpent. Vishnu is represented on this specimen by Garuda, (half man, half eagle), his vehicle and Hanuman, the vehicle of Rama his seventh incarnation. Height 22.3 cm.

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