NMM 1370 A/B.  Pair of conch shell trumpets (rag gshog-ma), Tibet, area of Reting Monastery, not far from Lhasa, mid-19th century. Left-turning conch shell. Brass wing with copper trim. Applied turquoise and coral embellishments. Braided cloth includes delicate white sacred scarf (khata), symbolic of purity and charity. Green and red silk pieces symbolic of the sense of touch. Played in pairs, contributing to the drone. Ringley Fund, 1976.

The shell is decorated with a carved and inked lotus flower.

All conch shell trumpets, in the Tibetan-Buddhist tradition, are referred to as dung dkar. Those that feature an attached wing bear the special designation rag gshog-ma.

Literature:  Thomas E. Cross, Instruments of Burma, India, Nepal, Thailand and Tibet, The Shrine to Music Museum Catalog of the Collections, Vol. II, André P. Larson, editor (Vermillion: The Shrine to Music Museum, 1982), p. 27.

Thomas E. Cross, Instruments of Burma, India, Nepal, Thailand and Tibet, M.M. Thesis, University of South Dakota, May 1983, p. 69, plate XXV.

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