Can you identify this object?

[Bnii]

I recently purchased this item but when I got it home I really started wondering what it was. I tried to look up the meaning behind the images but I'm coming up short. On the top part there is what I assume to be a running or jumping deer (or perhaps it's a goat?) and on both sides of the bell there is what seems to be a three faced elephant.

photo-2.jpg (125.03 KiB) Viewed 1567 times

What is it and where should I put this?


Thanks for your help, I wasn't sure where to ask this!! Forgive me if this is the wrong place.

[Sekha]

well I think this is a black bell. Maybe you should put it besides your main entry,

...

or perhaps either throw it to the garbage or give it to somebody

[Bnii]

Well that was profoundly insightful as to the meaning of the symbols.......

[bodom]

Well that was profoundly insightful as to the meaning of the symbols.......

And that was a profoundly rude response. Maybe you should ask the person you bought it from. Im sorry to dissapoint you but this is not Antiques Road Show.

[Sobeh]

The elephant might be Airavata, Indra's mount. If so, it gives the piece its theme.

[Bnii]

Well that was profoundly insightful as to the meaning of the symbols.......

And that was a profoundly rude response. Maybe you should ask the person you bought it from. Im sorry to dissapoint you but this is not Antiques Road Show.

As is your response and the original response. I already said I'm sorry if this was the wrong forum but it sort of looked like it belonged in a little shrine. I didn't ask how much it cost. I asked if anyone knew what the symbols were. I didn't ask for sarcasm or anything else. If the post was in an inappropriate forum a simple message saying that would have sufficed. Instead I have people going out of their way to make me feel like I've inconvenienced them by telling me it isn't the Antiques Road Show and that the item is a bell. By the way, it's disappoint and not dissapoint.

[Ben]

Let's all just calm down and return to topic.

First of all, Bnii, welcome to Dhamma Wheel.
I am no expert on east-asian symbolism but the elephant isn't one that I have seen before in conjunction with Theravadin art. I have seen the deer, but they are usually together, facing each other with a dhammacakka (Dhamma Wheel) between them.
It could be a timepiece used in a temple - but equally it may not. The gongs I am used to seeing are the flat Burmese brass gongs suspended from a rope.

gong.jpg (2.08 KiB) Viewed 1527 times

kind regards

Ben

[appicchato]

Yes, welcome Bnii...pay the rude, sarcastic, insensiitive remarks no mind...it's human nature...and everywhere...this website does have many positive qualities...

Be well...

[Monkey Mind]

[Monkey Mind]

[David N. Snyder]

Good find, Monkey Mind. Maybe it is the deer from Deer Park, of the First Sermon of the Buddha.

[Ben]

Well done, Monkeymind!

[Monkey Mind]

Deer are a direct reference to the Buddha's first teaching in the Deer Park, Sarnath, also called Dharmachakra Parivartan. The suggestion is that so wondrous was the Buddha's appearance and peaceful his presence that even the animals came to listen. In the Tibetan tradition, a monastery which holds the Kangyur and Tengyur collections of texts would have this symbol of deer on both sides of the Dharma-wheel on the roof.

The Precious Elephant is a symbol of the strength of the mind in Buddhism. Exhibiting noble gentleness, the precious elephant serves as a symbol of the calm majesty possessed by one who is on the path. Specifically, it embodies the boundless powers of the Buddha which are miraculous aspiration, effort, intention, and analysis.

Both quotes from http://viewonbuddhism.org/general_symbols_buddhism.html#1a
I am looking for a reference but can't find it... maybe it's a Mahayana symbol, I thought I heard that a white elephant was a symbol of Buddha's birth.

[Bnii]

Monkey Mind, thank you! That's awesome. I love the explanation that even the deer, so easily spooked, was drawn in.

and appichato, thanks for the reminder.

[adeh]

The three headed elephant is the symbol for Laos so it is probably Loatian..which is as far as I know a Theravadin country. The elephant is an animal deeply associated with the Buddha and there are constant references to elephants in the Suttas. There is even a complete chapter in the Dhammapada devoted to the elephant. Adeh.

Wandering alone is better,
There is no companionship with a fool.
Wander on alone doing no evil,
Unworried, like the elephant Mataanga in the forest.
Dhammapada 330.

[adeh]

1099373_golden_art.jpg (24.29 KiB) Viewed 1409 times

Laos temple art

[retrofuturist]

Greetings,

That picture above with the grey background is from the FWBO's London Buddhist Centre in Bethnal Green.

I should know, because I took the picture!

Metta,
Retro.

[Monkey Mind]

Hehe, too funny! So how did I come across this picture?

[retrofuturist]

Greetings Monkey Mind,

Hehe, too funny! So how did I come across this picture?

Hehehe... I don't know. I probably posted it in an online discussion at some point. It was taken in October 2007. I may have specifically been talking about my trip to the London Buddhist Vihara or it may have had something to do with something else.

Metta,
Retro.

[PeterB]

Yup thats an authentic London- in- October sky Retro...The big BuddhaRupa with western features at Bethnal Green is very impressive I think.