Begging bowl (kashkul), cast, engraved, and tinned bronze

Boat-shaped begging bowls made of coco de mer (a rare type of coconut), wood, or metal were typical accessories for many wandering dervishes, along with staffs and certain articles of clothing. This heavy and magnificent bowl, however, was probably displayed in one of the many Shiite shrines that can still be found in the Deccan.

The painstakingly executed Thuluth inscriptions that stand out smoothly against the engraved background, both inside and out, are passages from the Koran and Shiite invocations. The boat shape, which terminates in dragon heads, is Persian in origin, but the dense, engraved decoration and lovely brownish patina are typical of a group of metal objects made in the Deccan.