Five-pronged ritual object extensively employed in the ceremonies of Tibetan Buddhism .
It is fashioned out of brass or bronze, the four prongs at each end curving around the central fifth to form a lotus-bud shape. In Sanskrit the word means both thunderbolt and diamond: like a thunderbolt it cuts through ignorance, and like a diamond it destroys but is itself indestructible. Originally a symbol of Indra , it was used to conquer the non-Buddhist deities of Tibet. In ritual use, it is often employed in conjunction with a bell in the execution of mudras .