“This bowl is made in Nepal, and is very good. But as this man is looking for a Tibetan one, tell him that this is Tibetan,” Krishna requests the Nepali guide of a Korean tourist who is listening to the reverberating sound coming from the singing bowl that Krishna has placed on the foreigner’s palm.
For quite some time, the Nepali handicraft business has seen a rise in the sale of singing bowls. Several curio shops in and around Kathmandu sell these metal pots which are called the Tibetan singing bowls. Nowadays, even booksellers eagerly wait for customers to buy such bright and colorful singing bowls displayed on their shelves supposed to stock books.
The golden-colored round metal bowl produces vibrating “singing” sound when a wooden stick is struck against or rubbed round its circumference. The sound produced by the singing bowl reminds one of the calm and soothing music that is heard inside a monastery. The Tibetan singing bowl has its place in religion, meditation, and therapy.
It is made up of seven different metals – gold, silver, copper, tin, lead, zinc, and iron. The objects are made in two ways, handcrafted or machine-tooled. Traders claim that a handmade bowl has seven different metals whereas machine-made ones may have only three to five metals. Machined bowls, which are mainly gift items and are bought by visitors as souvenirs, are called tourist bowls.
But more people opt for hand-crafted pieces. However, many prefer the machined version as souvenirs because of the beautiful decoration. As to which one is better, Sapta Ratna Shakya, whose name itself means “seven jewels,” says, “A handmade bowl is more original and is more effective in healing.”
Singing bowls are used mainly in sonic therapeutic treatment. People with depression and mental sickness recover by the soothing music that the bowl produces. Musicians and lovers of sound buy such bowls for the retreat into music it provides. They buy it for the tone produced by the bowl.
The singing bowl market is dominated by Nepal-made ones but promoted as Tibetan. These days, as it is difficult for Tibetans to travel between Tibet and Nepal, the dominance of bowls made in Nepal, India, and Bangladesh is strong.
In Europe and America, showrooms now sell singing bowls. That has expanded the market potential of Nepali exporters because Nepal is a major producer of singing bowls. Despite the retail market having its ups and downs according to the tourist seasons, the export drive is rather up.
However, Nepal is not the only country producing singing bowls. Many being sold in the Nepali market are imported from Bangladesh and India, proving that these types of bowls are representative of several countries.
“It doesn’t matter where the bowl is from. What matters is its sound and its healing power,” says Krishna. “Only those who sympathize with Tibet look for Tibet-made bowls whereas those who use it for healing go for the quality of sound it produces, and its relative antiquity.”
Although the bowls got the name of “singing” bowls in the late 1950s after the arrival of Tibetans in Nepal, these antique utensils were already in Nepal for centuries. Santaman Shakya, an artisan who handcrafts singing bowls and also teaches singing bowl meditation, does not accept it as something Tibetan. He claims that his family has been in the business of bowl-making for at least 150 years. He accepts, however, that it gained its popular name as singing bowl after the introduction of Tibetan version. “And the Tibetan singing bowls got this fame only after being introduced in the international market from Nepal,” he adds.
The singing bowl is known as “jane bata” in the Newar language, meaning eating bowl. For centuries, these are being used in Nepal for different household purposes. In Tibet, this metal bowl, called “dakpa,” is used for healing purposes.
The price of a singing bowl ranges from Rs 500 to 8,000. Measuring the size of an antique-looking bowl with his palm, Shakya, who is selling the items for the last 11 years, says, ‘This bowl of approximately 12 inches costs Rs 2,000.”
Bowls that are shaped by dexterous hands of artisans are more expensive than machine-produced ones despite the latter having more elaborate embellishments. The better quality of sound produced is the major reason for the handcrafted metal being more expensive. Additionally, as with other handicrafts, there is high value for antique singing bowls. The more antique the bowl, the better is the sound produced by it, and higher will be the price, too. Experienced collectors look for used singing bowls because older metals produce even better sound.
The singing bowl has other musical accompaniments to it to produce excellent sounds, thus further adding to its therapeutic effects. One is the “tingshaw,” a flat, round brass instrument played to produce sounds in performances in the festivals of the Nepal Mandala. Another musical instrument is a cymbal called “bhusya” in Newari, which is used in Nepal in singing holy hymns, or “bhajan”. The bell, called “dorje” in Tibetan, is an important device used in sound therapy because of the soothing chimes it produces when a stick is struck against it. In Hindu religious traditions, this device is used to produce a musical language connecting a devotee with God. The gong, called “damaha” in Nepali, is a drum played in performances in Tibet as well as in Nepal, and is connected to the playing of singing bowls.
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