Fly-whisk

A fly-whisk is a tool to swat or disturb flies. A similar gadget is used as a hand fan in hot tropical climates, sometimes used as part of regalia, and called chowrie, chāmara or prakirnaka in South Asia and Tibet.

In Indonesian art, a fly-whisk is one of the items associated with Shiva. The fly-whisk is frequently seen as an attribute of both Hindu, Daoist, and Buddhist deities. The fly-whisk is evident in some configurations of the Ashtamangala, employed in some traditions of murti puja, particularly the Gaudiya Vaishnava. It is also used as an accessory in the ritual aspects of folk performance traditions, especially folk-theatre forms like Palagaan where it can double as a prop.

Fly-whisks are in use in parts of the contemporary Middle East, such as Egypt, by some classes of society, e.g. outdoor merchants and shop keepers, especially in summer when flies become bothersome. Those have a wooden handle and plant fibers attached to them. The more expensive ones are made from horse hair. In the eastern parts of the Indian subcontinent it is made from the tail-hairs of the yak.

Fly-whisks appear frequently in the traditional regales of monarchs and nobility in many parts of the African continent. This use has sometimes carried on into modern contexts: Kenyan leader Jomo Kenyatta carried a fly-whisk, a mark of authority in Maasai society, as did Malawian leader Hastings Banda, while South African jazz musician Jabu Khanyile also used a Maasai fly-whisk as a trademark when on stage.

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