Beggar's Bowl (Kashkul)

The kashkul, or beggar’s bowl, is perhaps the most emblematic accoutrement of the wandering dervish. These typically boat-shaped vessels were made in a variety of media, including coco-de-mer shell, wood, metal, and ceramic. Dervishes used them primarily to collect and store alms (their main source of sustenance) and occasionally as drinking vessels. In later centuries, many were marketed as decorative objects since a devoted dervish would be unlikely to carry an elaborately carved kashkul as it would contradict his belief in the renunciation of worldly goods in favor of unconditional devotion to the Divine. The kashkul has a number of metaphorical associations. For example, it represents the cleansing of a Sufi’s soul of all extraneous earthly desires in preparation for the acceptance of Divine love and a dervish's life of poverty. The inscription, an excerpt from the Qur'an, has been skillfully pierced into the steel body of the vessel and then damascened in gold.