This could well be the infamous "Kali-Chotki", obscure references to which can be found in the fragments of an ancient tantra (written on human skin) which were uncovered in northern India in 1935. From the few details available, scholars speculate that chanting a certain mantra upon the rope- possibly "namo mahakali"- 3,000 times in quick succession would unleash some unspeakable calamity or open some gate. Key to the rope's power is the tiny skull which, while apparently wooden, is in fact the miniaturized skull of the accursed sorcerous tantrika who wove the rope from the hair of his murdered disciples before finally consecrating himself to the hideous relic. After the rest of his cult was massacred by the order of the Raj, the Kali-Chotki disappeared for several centuries until, it was rumored, some wayward monk of Rus', perhaps straining too eagerly for mystical experience, procured it during travels through the Orient. Bringing it to his home monastery, his brother monks quickly recognized the eldritch peril represented by the thing and unceremoniously buried the monk alive with his evil souvenir.
FANTASTIC.
