Mandau with some unusual motifs

[VVV]

Thanks Jim too,

Your message first appeared after I finished my post.
When you say kabbalistic, do you mean European blades used for (non-Jewish) ritual magic? Like the Western Kabbala (Eliphas Lévi etc.?).
The double square star is also a less magic symbol in Islam, Rub el Hizb.
But in the Moro case I don't think it has anything to do with that non-talismanic meaning.
The Mamluk material sounds very interesting, do you have any reference pictures?
On the roots I don't think that India should be ruled out. Both the first wave of Hindu religious practices as well as the Sufi missionaries of Islam came from India.

Michael

PS Thanks to Willem too who also posted when I was writing. Now I have to check out...