There is a special matter in which your help would be much appreciated. A few months ago I found on a flea market a bowl that I immediately fell in love with (even if it's not the most beautiful bowl I've ever seen). Now I want to know two things about it: its origin and the meaning of the text engraved on it.
1. Meaning
• In what alphabet / script (devanagari, sanskrit, tibetan, arabic?) is the lettering engraved on the bowl?
• What is the language used for that text on the bowl (Hindi, Marathi, Nepali…)?
• What is the meaning of the text written around the bowl, what does it say?
• Is there a metameaning (why exactly is _this_ text on exactly _this_ bowl?)
2. Origin
• Who produces similar bowls?
• To which culture does it belong?
• How did it end up being sold at my local flea market in Zürich, Switzerland and
• Is somebody known who owned it before.
Any information would be helpful even if you think it might not be worth it. Please leave comments and hints underneath this article. Following are some pictures of the bowl. A click on the pictures should enlarge them:
Can you read the text or recognize the script used on the bowl?


A specialty is that the bowl has a kind of foot / brim:


The production must have involved some kind of lathing / turning process:
















