White Copper Acala Pendant

Wrathful forms in everyday jewellery raise a practical question of acceptance. Some people find them frightening, others like exactly that energy. Acala is shown with glaring eyes, exposed teeth and a halo of flame; shrunk to pendant size, those features compress into a few deep channels and a mass of curling fire. Whether he is recognisable depends entirely on whether the ferocity of the contour survives. Fierce is not the same as malevolent: the gaze of a wrathful figure is steady rather than glaring at the viewer.

Acala is the first of the five great vidyarajas. In esoteric teaching he is the teaching-command incarnation of Vairocana, and he takes a wrathful form in order to subdue beings who are stubborn. The iconography is fixed: a sword in the right hand, a noose in the left, seated on a rock, with the Garuda flame behind him. The sword cuts through affliction and the noose binds ignorance, and the meaning of both implements is set out clearly in the ritual texts. Each of the five rules over a direction, with Acala at the centre, a position fixed in the mandala. The noose is a rope with a hook at one end, a symbol of gathering back a scattered mind.

The flame is the most laborious part. The fire has to have direction, curling upward rather than licking at random, and the layers have to be distinct, with inner and outer flames following their own lines. White copper is hard enough to keep the points of the flame, which is its strength here. The darkening treatment lets the deep gaps between the tongues go fully black while the bright faces stay clear, so the fire reads as burning. If a point or two breaks off, the whole does not collapse.

This one leans masculine, and also suits women who like a harder style. Worn against the chest, the chain should not be too fine, since the pendant has thickness and a thin chain cannot carry it. With a shirt, sit the pendant near the second button so it shows a little as the collar opens, which looks better than hanging outside. Take it off for sport and for showers, because knocks are the great enemy of a three-dimensional piece. Against the chest it warms to body temperature, and in winter that first contact is noticeable.

As it oxidises, the recesses of the flame go blackest and the raised areas stay bright, so the layering actually strengthens and there is no need to polish it even. To clear dust, brush it dry with a soft brush rather than rinsing, because water sits in the points of the flame. If it is a gift, make sure first that the recipient is not put off by a wrathful figure, which matters more than the material. The aged layer dislikes hard objects, and a fingernail will leave a bright scratch.