Newars do a ritual of welcome called “las khus” for individual, icons, and other sacred materials entering a purified, sacred space. The phan measuring container can be a ritual implement when it is used to hold and pour out a set of auspicious items (flowers, puffed rice, dried fruit pieces) as part of a ceremonial rite (Nw. sipha-luye) that welcomes guests, who are lustrated one by one. Before each “pour”, a vajrācārya if present can utter into the phan the famous Sanskrit phrase that here serves as a mantra: Ye dharmā hetu-prabhavā/hetuṃ teṣāṃ tathāgata hy avadat/teṣāṃ ca yo nirodha/evaṃ vādī mahāśramaṇa. (“Of those phenomena which arise from causes/ Those causes have been taught by the Tathāgata/ And their cessation too/thus proclaimed the Great Ascetic.”)

Las khus can be done in courtyards for all doing special devotional rituals such as vratas, Ihi and Burā/Buri Jaṃko, for welcoming new brides into their husband’s home, and for welcoming images that are being ritual empowered. There are also wooden phans, which some vajrācāryas regard as superior.