2-746-100 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Three-pronged Vajra Pestle (Sankosho), 1300s-1400s. Called a vajra in Sanskrit, a pestle of this kind is an Esoteric Buddhist ritual implement derived from the thunderbolt held by the Indian Vedic god Indra. The round forms along the center of the handle, known as demon eyes, are rather compressed in this example, and the lotus petal shapes near the prongs are quite sharply delineated.