A Chinese Sino-Tibetan Dynasty Period gilt bronze Kartika, a symbolic crescent knife of ‘chopper’, used in Vajrayana Buddhist ceremonies. It symbolizes the severance of all material and worldly bonds and is crowned with a vajra, which is said to destroy ignorance, and leads to enlightenment. The Kartika is a key ritual implement in the Tibetan Buddhist practice of Chod, or ‘cutting through demons’. In Buddhist teachings, this tool is held in the right hand of Yamantaka, the conqueror of death. It is also used in FengShui. Depictions of Vajrayogini typically contain the Kartika as one of her attributes. In the iconography of the dakini, she generally appears with the hooked Kartika knife in her right hand. Lama Tsultrim Allione describes the Kartika . The traditional interpretation of the hook in Tibetan Buddhist imagery is that of the hook of compassion. It is the hook which pulls beings out of the cycles of transmigration. The hooked crescent-shaped knife of the dakini with its vajra hahwondle pulls one forth from suffering, chops up the ego-centered self and is guided by the diamond clarity of the vajra. Includes cloth box. Yongle four characters reign mark, Ming Dynasty. Dimensions: Length: 8" Width: 6 1/4" Box: Height:2 7/8" Width: 10 5/8"