Hi Guys!
This is outstanding! exactly what I had hoped, continued discussion bringing forth great ideas and observations, and especially sharing data and information. I had not known about the Danish holdings Jens! and it always amazes me that so many key ethnographic observations were prevalent, and typically we overlook their most important status as explorers and traders.The examples from the Christian V period represent that the kora certainly existed in its form in 1674. I am wondering if the 'Ostinische krumsabler' (what is the lit. transl. of 'krumsabler' ?) examples may have been obtained earlier in the expeditions to India sent by Christian IV c.1624, where Crappe visted the court of Raghunatha Nayaka in Tanjore.
Spiral, thank you for the photo of the holdings and information from the Nepali museum with the kora of Draya Shah c.1560. This indeed does push back the date of the form even further. I must admit to certain reservations on the captions and identifications that describe many items on display in museums which, especially in the case of weapons, often show a weapon ascribed to important or prominant individuals,when the weapon on display may simply be 'of the type' or assumed to be of the period. After considering the Danish examples, it would seem to me that the Draya Shah example probably does represent sound evidence of the form as early as c.1560, and with that likely even earlier.
These much earlier dates suggest of course that the kora existed in Nepal in roughly its present form as early as the 16th century, and we need to consider how much earlier it may have been present, as well as from where it may have derived. Brian has included the interesting possibility of a proto-kora type weapon in images from Madhya Pradesh from 6th c. It should be noted that this region is located roughly between the Deccan and Nepal.This iconographic source, although certainly not of a kora, does suggest the presence of the flared tip and certain similarities to them.
Jens has noted the comments presented in Elgood that include other iconographic approximations of proto-kora type swords from Muklingham in the Ganga regions (Bengal) of latter 8th c. AD.
The 'virigal' stones of Tamil warriors in the Deccan from the 10th century have images of curiously bladed swords with splayed, flared tips that have nominal similarity to the kora blade, and certainly represent the blade shapes that emphasize the forward angle and weight to maximize cut force.
It has been well established that Nepal and Bengal have distinct cultural ties from ancient times, and such ties would seem to extend of course to the Deccan via the Hindu faith, which we know was prevalent for the Gurkhas.
So it would appear that we have the kora established in its present form as early as 1560 in Nepal, with various proto forms represented from as early as the 6th century in regions south of Bengal, and later key representations of loosely similar weapons from 8th and 10th centuries.
Now just to try to connect the dots!
All best regards,
Jim