PHUR-BU

(Tibetan: "peg," or "nail"), a ritual dagger used in the Tantric (esoteric) rites of Tibetan Buddhism to exorcise evil. The dagger has a three-sided blade and a hilt that terminates in the head of Hayagriva (Tibetan: Rta-mgrin), the fierce protective deity identified by a horse's head in the headdress. Other symbols characteristically used to ornament the phur-bu are the knots of immortality, head of a makara (crocodile-like creature), and entwined serpents.