Kora/khuda/khunda

[Timo Nieminen]

Had the camera out, and though I'd photograph this and share. A basic plain kora/khunda/khuda.

[spiral]

Sadley at the very least to my eye the new parts & welding are not in the old style of these pieces.

Is it just a poor renovation or a totaly modern "replica" I wonder?

Spiral

[Stan S.]

A very nice, plain yet attractive variant of a good fighting kora with a traditional nepalese style hilt! I too questing the welding marks... However, I like it a lot.

[spiral]

Originally Posted by Stan S.

A very nice, plain yet attractive variant of a good fighting kora with a traditional nepalese style hilt!.

Ive only handled 10 or so kora, only ever owned 3, but have seen another few dozen or so in Nepal. I think the the hilts did have a rather different Gestalt, actualy so did the blades. The shape of the domed cap & tang end without finial looks very strange & not realy traditional? But perhaps my memmory is faulty, I havent hunted through all my old photos.

And Of course replicas are still made in Nepal to day for western importers, tourists & indeed sometimes the locals.

spiral

[Timo Nieminen]

The blade is forged - the fuller is shallow and the edge of the fuller isn't sharp. The disks are cut from sheet metal, and I think the grip is the same sheet metal rolled into a slightly conical tube. The domed cap looks like it might be a different steel.

The thickness of the spine is about 4mm at 2", 7mm at 6"-7", and 6mm from 12"-18". Positions along blade in inches as per photo. I doubt that it's differentially hardened, since the point is a little bent. Are "real" ones usually differentially hardened?

800g.

I don't have any reason to think it's older than perhaps mid-late 20th century. Could be late 20th.

[spiral]

Hi Timo, well distal taper is always good in a blade, Helps stop it snapping under duress, after all.

They should be differntialy hardend if for use but the very tips are likely to be left soft judging from kukri, {Ive never etched a kora/khonra etc.}

if you can lightly etch it you will see whether the man who made it , made for it to be potentialy used or purely a wallhanger.Post ww2 does seem likely, I agree.


Who it was made for, as with many ethnographic weapons from that area we will probably never know. Beheading buffalo is there main job today if made for locals.


Spiral

[Timo Nieminen]

Here is another. A bit shabby, with a big bend in the blade at about 20", about 10-15 degrees. Perhaps I can straighten it, if I feel the need.

My first impression was that it would be a bit of a pig to try to fight with, a rather heavy and unwieldy brute ("only" 1.36kg, but still a pig). Maybe OK for dealing with unmoving sacrifical targets.