Old yak bone kapala mala with a charming rustique look.
This mala has been made in a traditional Tibetan style, stringing alternately yak bone beads with (faux) gemstone inlay (the little stone chips pressed in a clay base into the hollowed-out yak bone slices) and yak bone beads decorated with a small metal band (in this case mostly iron wire).
This mala is a 'kapala mala'; the yak bone beads have been carved from the yak's skull bone. The skull bone is recognisable by its 'sandwich'-appearance; two layers of harder bone with a core of inner latticework. Kapala mala's are often especially used for the more wrathful practices in (mostly) Tibetan Buddhism. Traditionally they are made from human skull bone, acquired from the remains of Buddhist practitioners after proper sky burials. Nowadays unfortunately, because of the high value for such items among western collectors, also a lot of kapala mala's from not that ethical collected human bone circulate the market to meet the demands for it (for example from graverobbing and executed prisoners). And of course also less eccentric and therefore less expensive alternatives have been found by using animal bones, such as is also the case with this yak bone kapala mala.
Total length of this mala is approximately 80 centimeters and total weight is 115 grams. The yak bone slices are strung on beige cotton cord and are approximately 1,3 centimeters diameter and 0,6 centimeters high.
This mala is quite an old one already and , as can be seen on the pictures, clearly shows the signs of its age. Here and there the inlay of stone chips has gone missing and overall you could say this mala has a rustique look and feel. But on the other hand, maybe that's exactly what makes it all the more charming.
