Drilbu, (ritual bell) and Vajra from Lhasa, Tibet, 18^th Century AD.

The bell was collected on the British Military expedition to Lhasa led by Sir Francis Edward Younghusband in 1904 as a result of a trade dispute.  Younghusband was a Mystic, Writer, Soldier, Diplomat, Explorer (he was Chairman of the committee of the 1936 expedition to Everest), he was also founder of the World Congress of Faiths.  He was born in Murree, India in 1863..

This bell was used by Buddhist monks whilst praying.  It was struck with the Vajra and the prayer carried away on a wave of sound into the world.  The Drilbu has a series of female masks around the handle.  These, the prayer and the tolling of the bell drive away the evils of the world.

This is just the same idea as our more familiar church bells.

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