Renunciant ascetics utilize the Tumari vessel.
It would have been made of gourds in the past, but the shape
is now frequently replicated in brass or another metal.
The tumari has an open top over which the carrying handle
arches, making it higher than it is broad.
The tumari is an open vessel, unlike another item of ascetic
equipment, the kamandalu, which has both a spout and a covered top.
When built of a gourd, it would simply have meant chopping
portions off of the top for the opening, with the remaining top pieces
providing the vessel’s handle.
Because of its simplicity and use of read ily accessible
materials, the tumari was a symbol of austere existence.
