Thokcha
Encyclopedia
'Thokcha' "sky-iron" are tektites and meteorites which are often high in iron content, refer Iron meteorite
. The usage of meteoric iron is common in the history of ferrous metallurgy
. Historically, thokchas were held in esteem for sacred metallurgical fabrication of weapons, musical instruments and sacred tools, eg. phurba
. Their inclusion as an auspicious addition in the metallurgical fabrication of sacred objects cast of Panchaloha is documented. The term has also come to denote ancient metal objects which serve as talismans made from thokcha. They are traditionally held to be endowed with magic and protective power and in this respect are comparable to Tibetan Dzi bead
s.
Beer (1999: p.234) holds that:
.
es, or having served as buckles
, fibulae or arrow heads.
They can have served as adornment for clothes or objects of daily use like lighters and purses. Thokchas can represent mythological and real animals or deities from Tibet’s Bön or Buddhist religion. Many are of a more abstract form and the meaning of these pieces remains uncertain.
itical metal and found by chance on or under the ground by a lucky person. However, most of the thokchas were intentionally designed as talismans and are made of a copper alloy.
Iron meteorite
Iron meteorites are meteorites that consist overwhelmingly of nickel-iron alloys. The metal taken from these meteorites is known as meteoric iron and was one of the earliest sources of usable iron available to humans.-Occurrence:...
. The usage of meteoric iron is common in the history of ferrous metallurgy
History of ferrous metallurgy
The history of ferrous metallurgy began far back in prehistory. The earliest surviving iron artifacts, from the 5th millennium BC in Iran and 2nd millennium BC in China, were made from meteoritic iron-nickel. It is not known when or where the smelting of iron from ores began, but by the end of the...
. Historically, thokchas were held in esteem for sacred metallurgical fabrication of weapons, musical instruments and sacred tools, eg. phurba
Phurba
The kīla is a three-sided peg, stake, knife, or nail like ritual implement traditionally associated with Indo-Tibetan Buddhism, Bön, and Indian Vedic traditions. The kīla is associated with the meditational deity The kīla (Sanskrit Devanagari: कील; IAST: kīla; , pronunciation between pur-ba and...
. Their inclusion as an auspicious addition in the metallurgical fabrication of sacred objects cast of Panchaloha is documented. The term has also come to denote ancient metal objects which serve as talismans made from thokcha. They are traditionally held to be endowed with magic and protective power and in this respect are comparable to Tibetan Dzi bead
Dzi bead
Dzi bead is a bead stone of mysterious origin worn as part of a necklace and sometimes as a bracelet. In several Asian cultures, including that of Tibet, the bead is considered to provide positive spiritual benefit...
s.
Beer (1999: p.234) holds that:
"Meteoric iron or 'sky-iron' (Tib. gnam lcags) is the supreme substance for forging the physical representation of the vajra or other iron weapons, since it has already been tempered by the celestial gods in its passage across the heavens. The indivisibility of form and emptiness is a perfect metaphor for the image of a meteorite or 'stone fallen from the sky', manifesting out of the voidness of space as a shooting star or fireball, and depositing a chunk of fused 'sky iron' on the earth below. Many vajras held by deities as weapons are described as being forged from meteorite iron, and Tibet, with its high altitude, thin atmosphere and desolate landscape, received an abundance of meteorite fragments. Tibetan vajras were often cast from meteorite iron, and as an act of sympathetic magic a piece of the meteoric iron was often returned to its original site."
Age
One can roughly divide the thokchas into two groups, the first comprising objects of pre-Buddhist period (from about 1000 B.C. until 900 AD), the second belonging to the Buddhist period (after 7th century AD), the two periods slightly overlapping. Some of the early thokchas may be related to the Tibetan Zhang zhung cultureZhang Zhung culture
Zhang Zhung, Shang Shung, or Tibetan Pinyin Xang Xung, was an ancient culture and kingdom of western and northwestern Tibet, which pre-dates the culture of Tibetan Buddhism in Tibet. Zhang Zhung culture is associated with the Bon religion, which in turn, has influenced the philosophies and...
.
Types of thokchas
Thokchas are metal objects which can have a length of about 2 cm to 15 cm. Originally they can have had a practical use such as having been part of horse harnessHorse harness
A horse harness is a type of horse tack that allows a horse or other equine to pull various horse-drawn vehicles such as a carriage, wagon or sleigh. Harnesses may also be used to hitch animals to other loads such as a plow or canal boat....
es, or having served as buckles
Buckles
Buckles is a comic strip by David Gilbert about the misadventures of a anthropomorphic naïve dog. Buckles debuted on March 25, 1996.King Feature's Syndicate: "More of an only child with canine instincts than he is the family pet...
, fibulae or arrow heads.
They can have served as adornment for clothes or objects of daily use like lighters and purses. Thokchas can represent mythological and real animals or deities from Tibet’s Bön or Buddhist religion. Many are of a more abstract form and the meaning of these pieces remains uncertain.
Popular Belief
The word thokcha is composed of two words, thog meaning above, first or thunderbolt and lcags meaning iron or metal. The meaning of thokcha can thus be given as “first or original iron” or “thunderbolt iron”. The popular belief is that thokchas can be formed naturally or magically when a thunderbolt strikes the earth. According to other beliefs tokchas are composed of meteorMETEOR
METEOR is a metric for the evaluation of machine translation output. The metric is based on the harmonic mean of unigram precision and recall, with recall weighted higher than precision...
itical metal and found by chance on or under the ground by a lucky person. However, most of the thokchas were intentionally designed as talismans and are made of a copper alloy.
External links
- Thokcha ~ Tibetan Amulets
- Tibetan Meteorite
- http://www.asianart.com/articles/thogchags/index.html
- http://www.asianart.com/articles/vestiges/index.html