ritual container

Ram's horn, "t'un-rva", used both to cure and to curse. The carvings depict various animals including a scorpion and several snakes. The tip of the horn is carved as a makara head and is stopped with a wooden plug. There is a blue and white woven strap threaded through an aperture at the tip of the horn which would have also have been threaded through the wooden stopper.

T’un rva are used by quasi shaman Tibetan doctors (especially amongst nomads). They are still used in off the beaten track places like Mustang. They are used symbolically: they can be placed upon the patient’s body, or they can be laid in a building in a special way. - Zara Fleming 2015.

Collection Information

These objects are only a part of our collections, of which there are more than 350,000 objects. This information comes from our collections database. Some of this is incomplete and there may be errors. This part of the website is also still under construction, so there may be some fields repeated or incorrectly formatted information.

The database sometimes uses language taken from historical documents to help research, which may now appear outdated and even offensive. The database also includes information on objects that are considered secret or sacred by some communities.

If you have any further information about objects in our collections or can suggest corrections to our information, please contact us: enquiry@horniman.ac.uk