kapalas

Kapala is a Sanskrit term meaning skull or skull-cap. In Hindu and Buddhist tantric traditions, a kapala is a ritual cup carved from a human skull. It is used as a receptacle for offerings during ceremonies, such as wine, blood, cereals, or symbolic substances. In many depictions, the kapala is gilded or decorated with precious metals, jewels, and bone motifs.

Within Hinduism, kapalas are associated with cremation grounds and with certain ascetic and ritual groups including the Kapalikas, a medieval Shaiva sect that used skull-derived implements. The kapala also appears in iconography connected to the goddess Kali and other fierce deities, symbolizing the transience of life, the destruction of ego, and liberation through transformation.

In Vajrayana and Tibetan Buddhist practice, the kapala is used by adepts in rites and meditations emphasizing impermanence and non-attachment. It is sometimes held by wrathful deities in thangka art, and may accompany other ritual tools such as the vajra, bell, and phurba. The kapala can signify the victory over death and the consuming of negative forces through wisdom.

Historically, skull-cups were more common in certain regions of India and Nepal; today many surviving kapalas are metal or ceramic replicas used in ritual contexts or preserved as artifacts in museums. The term kapala remains a general reference to both the skull and the cup in ritual literature and iconography.