Marking of weapons: Anthropologically and Sociologically

[Jim McDougall]

Originally Posted by whistlinbill

To follow on to the Kukri blade cutout and the line(s) down the blade's back: One time when I was in Dehra Dun at the Windlass factory, one of the managers there had been in the 1971 scrap between Bangladesh and Pakistan, with the Indians thrown into the mix. He had been attached to a Gurkha unit; he said the cutout on the blade edge is the trident of Shiva; the line(s) on the kukri's back is the spear of Kali; together, they make the kukri effective. (Remember--Nepal is the only country in the world that has the Hindu religion as the state religion. In India, you can just wander in and out of Hindu temples--in Nepal, the temples I saw there had guards [Gurkhas with MK2 Sten guns] at the doors, and I reckon they'd blow you away if you tried to go inside!)
Samuel Setian showed me what one type of the "Spanish notch" is for: You use it with the blade placed edge upwards; you put your thumbnail into the notch so you can better control the point.

I just wanted to thank you for adding this fascinating material on this topic!
Its always great to see these older threads brought back to life, and I always hope thier reappearance will spark the interest of readers to keep bringing in new material so we can keep learning. Research never ends, and the discovery of previously unknown or from esoteric resources often adds a whole new dimension to our understanding of these topics.