Vaj wrote: In English we have the saying when someone really > punches someone hard so as to knock them unconscious or "pins" them > in argument "that person was really nailed" which expresses a similar > idea. > > http://www.khordong.de/Edition/bolt_1.pdf > Maybe so, but there's nothing in the definition of kIla that you provided that would indicate that the Tibetan phurba was an instrument for killing. According to the Sanskrit Digital Lexicon, the term kIla pertains to a peg or a stake, like a ridge pole in a cow shed, which is what I pointed out before: that the Tibetan phurba is an icongraphic symbol for the axis mundi in Buddhist vastu.
The definition also points out that the term kILa has nothing to do with killing in English. From what I've read, the phurbu is more akin to the vajra, symbol of the admantine transcendent. It may be that the shamanistic Bon used a knife or dagger for killing in magic rituals, but the Vedic religion apparently didn't use a knife or dagger in sacrifice, rather they used a crescent shaped instrument. The Tibetan phurbu is more akin to the 'Lightening Bolt" of Indra, than to the magic dagger used in Bon, as pointed out in the report you cited. Thanks for the link. Cologne Digital Sanskrit Lexicon: http://webapps.uni-koeln.de/cgi-bin/tamil/recherche
