The manipuri singing bowls are low sided bowls from the late period, made from the 16th century up until today. Small quantities of this type of bowl have been made recently.
The names given to different types of singing bowls often refer to their shape. Thadobati means "straight bowl," Jambati means "round bowl." Manipuri could have multiple meanings but the "puri" part of the word means "flat," indicating the flat shape. "Mani" has many meanings, including "gem" and "equal," which could indicate they were used as measuring bowls.
Manipuri is also a place name in India although the bowls are not thought to have been made there. They have no bronze making tradition there.
If you listen to my music recordings and those of Karma Moffett, you will hear the manipuri bowls used frequently. They have a very clear and clean tone like no other singing bowl. They are among the best to use in recording.
The collection of manipuri singing bowls offered here at The Singing Bowl Museum are the best I ever collected. I kept only the very thick example because they are longer ringing, loud and better sounding than their thinner counterparts. These are the most pure sounding manipuri I ever collected.
These thicker manipuri are among the best for sound healing. The vibrations are very clean and you feel the clarity directly. They are often lighter weight than taller bowls so they are easier to tolerate on the body.
The tone of manipuri bowls is a reflection of the shape. A taller bowl creates more of an echo chamber. The tone bounces around internally and creates a more hollow sound. The manipuri bowls echo less, producing a greater clarity than any other type of bowl. Listen to my recordings and see if you can hear the differences.
Manipuri bowls come in a wide range of tones because they were made in a wide range of sizes, from tiny three inch diameter examples with stunning high pitches to amazing deep bowls nine inches across.
Often engraved with lines around the rim, some manipuri bowls are more elaborately decorated with floral and wing patterns. A very small number of manipuri have an interesting "reverse engraving," where they lathed the entire surface except small raised lined around the rim.
Some display the traditional circle and dot engravings, indicating a connection to the other types of singing bowls. They may have been made by the same workshops who made the circle and dot bowls in the earlier centuries.
Manipuri bowls look amazing when polished. All of the bowls in this collection could be individually polished. This would make them look bright and golden.
Enjoy the collection of manipuri bowls from my 24 year collection. These were special examples I reserved for sound healing and recording. They are among the best sounding singing bowls in the world.
Listen to the entire collection here: https://singingbowlmuseum.com/pages/manipuri
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