An introduction into the use of Zanpar dough/ger sticks: compiled and apprehended by Madrason 05042015 photo credits mostly from the expert Robert Brundage ( not to be copied without his permission/ on this site only for non commercial educational use as stated in my Header)
Par-shing or zanpar
This is a Tibetan monastic piece, usually called a "dough mold" in English. It used to produce flour effigies used in various rituals. This is a particularly large one - sometimes the molds existed in sets of smaller boards tied into a bundle but this larger example was likely comprehensive enough to stand on its own.
Dough molds were used in Tibetan popular rituals to make dough effigies called zan par ("dough print"). The ritual is a form of protection, exorcism, or ransom.
The moulds would be carried from a monastery by a trained monk to the home of anyone who wished cure sickness or to deal with various misfortunes. The practitioner could chose from the dozens of small inscriptions on the board to identify the type of obstacle to be dealt with, be it human, animal, bird, supernatural, or symbolic. This accounts for the great number of carved images found on a single board. He then places a ball of dough (tsampa (dried Ger) flour and water) onto the appropriate incised images, presses it to form an images of the objects and then places them on an offering plate located on a specially constructed altar. Chants by the practitioner expedite the transfer whatever impediments he discovered into the dough effigies.
Par-shing or zanpar
This dough mold is 13-1/4 inches long. It is carved on all four sides and measures 2-3/4 by 1-1/2 inches around. As can be seen in the photographs it has darkened with age and has a very pleasant patina.
The carving is extremely confident and carefully done. It is very difficult to estimate the age of a timeless artifact such as this but we would confidently estimate it to be well over a century old.
Zanpar, zanpai ....houten stok met symbolen, doet aan koekenplankjes denken! Tibettaans; werd door bonpriesters gebruikt bij zegeningen en helingsrituelen, bij de ziekte of kwaal werd er een symbool in verharde ger gedrukt en meegegeven aan de klant!Het werden dan kleine amuletjes, of ze gegeten moesten worden dat weet ik niet, ik denk van wel! M
The dough-forms were/are used during offering-rituals. They were NOT, as described in several studies, used as substitutes of the original pre-buddhist animal- or human-offerings.
litt:
Zara Fleming,“The Ritual Significance of Zan par”, in: Proceedings of the 10th Seminar of the IATS, Vol. 13: Art in Tibet, Leiden 2003, p. 161-168.
Wooden Mould Sticks (Zanpar)
Information on Wooden Mould Sticks
Robert BRUNDAGE describes these objects in the following way: “Carvings of myriad ritual implements, animals, deities and demons are skillfully rendered in miniature.… Intricately carved images of esoteric ritual objects, demonic spirits and Buddhist protectors were carved into wooden sticks called Zanpar (zan-spar). Tsampa (barley meal and yak butter dough) was pressed into the appropriate images to produce ritual sacrificial offerings (T. glud) for good fortune and protection from malevolent spirits that often create disorder.”
Reference: Robert Brundage (http://www.artyeti.com/)
Paul MORSE on wooden mould sticks: “Dough molds were used in Tibetan popular rituals to make dough effigies … The ritual is a form of protection, exorcism, or ransom. The molds would be carried from a monastery by a trained monk to the home of anyone who wished to cure sickness or to deal with various misfortunes. The practitioner could chose from the dozens of small inscriptions on the board to identify the type of obstacle to be dealt with, be it human, animal, bird, supernatural, or symbolic. This accounts for the great number of carved images found on a single board. He then places a ball of dough (tsampa flour and water) onto the appropriate incised images, presses it to form an images of the objects and then places them on an offering plate located on a specially constructed altar. Chants by the practitioner expedite the transfer whatever impediments he discovered into the dough effigies.”
Reference: Paul Morse (http://www.trocadero.com/pmorse/)
The older ones seem to have a more varying wooden mould/form almost alike printing blocks!
They might have derived from symbolic amulet writings or tattoos used for curing the ill. M
And now the excerpt of a professional approach in a magazine ;
The plates are not in this article! M
(Pages do not follow u because of not shown plates of zanpars)
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