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 from 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. This example is made of wood shell inlaid with camel bone and likely functioned as a beggar's bowl rather than a decorative object. The kashkul has a number of metaphorical associations. 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.