Four- to Five-Inch Antique Singing Bowls with Hand-Loomed Himalayan Wool Mat

Choose either the high-sided, higher-toned Thadobati bowl or the low-sided, deeper-toned Manipuri bowl, or get one of each and experience the full soundscape, high and low. As Ryan, our provider, and Best Singing Bowls owner, says, "If you purchase more than one bowl we can make sure they play well together." 

Genuine antique singing bowls are distinct for being hand-hammered, a process requiring skill and patience. The maker started with a flat circular piece of metal and, with hammering, shaped it gradually into a bowl. The quality standards of the time required a smooth finish which meant many hammer blows. Small, light blows were used to produce the finish. After shaping would come decoration which could range from simple hammer slashes to elaborate hand etching. The details wore down over time and with use.

In the 1970s and 80s, many antique bowls made their way over the Himalayas to Nepal where they were sold to tourists or collected and shipped out of the country. That source for singing bowls has long been exhausted. These days the only sources for old bowls are rural areas of the Himalayan mountains and the foothills as well as the provinces of northeast India. The Thabodati and Manipuri bowls offered here come from these regions.

High-sided Antique Thadobati Singing Bowl with mat and ringer

Thadobati style singing bowls are now the most common antiques flowing into collectors from rural villages in Nepal and sometimes mountainous India

These singing bowls are selected for their resonance and internal harmonies. They range from 4 to 5 inches across. Thadobati style with their tall straight sides has a larger sweet spot for striking than Manipuri. Their tones are somewhat higher ranging from the 4th to the lower 5th octave.

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Low-sided Antique Manipuri Singing Bowl with mat and ringer

Manipuri style is the original Tibetan singing bowl, the most common style brought to India by refugees in the last century. Today these antiques come from villages in Northern India and Nepal.

These singing bowls are also selected for their resonance and internal harmonies. They range from 4-5 inches across. Manipuri bowls tend to have complex soundscapes with somewhat deeper tones ranging from the mid-3rd octave to the lower 4th.

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Each singing bowl is individually numbered with a sticker showing the style, note, and octave. The packing slip will have weight, dimensions, note, octave, frequency in Hz, and overtone.

Each bowl comes with a ringing stick, wood on one side, and leather on the other for spinning the rim.

The double dorje pattern mats are hand-loomed in Kathmandu from wool brought in from the mountains and dyed in small batches. Each one is slightly different, approximately 6 inches square. If red is unavailable, it will be substituted with blue.

All prices are in US dollars. 

Customers are responsible for any additional duties, customs, and/or sales tax.