Tibetan Mantra Plaque Tokcha & Conch Tokcha

There are two tokchas here – a mantra plaque and a conch.

The mantra plaque has the letters of a Tibetan mantra in its lower register, and above there are representations of seated deities and stupas. The reverse is cast with more Tibetan mantra script. The plaque has three remaining holes to allow it to be attached to textiles, suspended, or used to hold bindings in place of an amulet bundle.

Most probably the mantra is the six syllable Om mani padme hum mantra.  This is linked most typically with the four-armed aspect of Avalokitesvara, who probably is represented above the mantra.

The cult of this form of Avalokitesvara was introduced to Tibet from India in the 11th century and thereafter became very popular.

The other tokcha is in the form of a bronze conch shell. One end has a hole for suspension.

Tokchas (also spelt as thokcha, tokche, thogchak, thog-lcag, or thogchag) are small ‘found’ ancient, sacred objects that went on to serve as votive talismans, and which were valued for their magical properties. Usually they are of bronze or copper alloy. Many are believed to also contain some meteoric metal. Tibetans highly prized them and would wear them to protect them and to absorb evil. Usually they were hung from the neck or attached to clothing, but also were sewn onto amulet pouches or attached to religious articles. They were also used by Tibetan shamans – healers, spirit-mediums and magicians – as part of their ‘tools’ of trade.

Particularly effective or powerful tokchas would be sold on or passed down through the generations. Accordingly, genuine and powerful tokchas should show a great deal of wear, as in the case of the example here.

It is likely that many tokchas originally were belt fittings or ornaments either from Tibet or from the Eurasian Steppes and Central Asia or Persia, and were traded into Tibet along Silk Road trading routes. Others were purpose-made as talismans, which explains why some genuine tokchas can be very similar. The traditional belief however, was that tokchas were not made by humans and even that they had simply fallen from the sky. The animal motifs employed in many tokchas suggest a linkage to Tibet’s pre-Buddhist Bon past. (Buddhism was introduced to Tibet in the early 7th century.)

The examples here have much wear from ritual handling and visible age. Each is stable and wearable.