Khan Academy: Cabinet for Storing Offerings

This black cabinet was once stored in the gongkhang of an unknown temple in Tibet. Forbidden to the uninitiated, the gongkhang is a special room set aside for the worship of wrathful deities, where only the initiated monks of the monastery or nuns of the convent could enter. The torgam is used for storing cone-shaped dough offerings made of butter and roasted barley flour called torma. This chest was intended to hold offerings to wrathful deities. The offerings would have sharp and pointed decorations, while those for peaceful deities are more gentle and rounded.