The Kapala is fashioned from the oval upper section of a human cranium. It serves as libation vessel for a vast number of Vajrayana deities, mostly wrathful. Kapala is used for containing blood in tantric ritual. Held by Kali and other manifestations of Shiva Shakti, by Mahakala and other guardian deities and their Dankinis. Kapala is made of severed head of a man or the cup made of a skull, or a bowl. The skull cup is of two kinds, when it is filled with blood it is called Asrk Kapala, and when with flesh it is called Mamsa Kapala. It is used in Tantric ritual. The deities are appeared to partake of the blood or the flesh of the demon carried in these cups.

USES OF KAPALA:

Kapala holds the nectar used for performing higher esoteric rituals. It is used during higher tantric meditation in order to achieve a transcendental state of thought and mind within the shortest possible time. It is used to offer liberation to gods and deities to ensure their devotion. In Tibetan Buddhism, the Kapala or Skull Bowl is used ritually in a number of ways. For example, the Lama may use it as an offering bowl on the altar, filled with with wine or blood as a gift to the Yidam Deity or all the Deities in the Mandala. Through the force of the practice of tantric visualizations based in deep philosophical study and meditation, a sort of transubstantiation will occur, and the wine or blood will be transformed into the Wisdom Nectar, a liquid form of the Enlightened Mind of the Deity or all of the Deities in the Celestial Palace of the Mandala. That can then be ritually imbibed by the yogi, or the Lama can choose to share it with members of His Heart Family, as in a Vajrayana Empowerment ceremony.