How old is the Kora, and from where does it origin?

[dennee]

Four photos of Cham dancers at Pelkhor Choide monastery, Gyantse, Tibet, 1940s. The first is a photo from late 1942 taken by Brooke Dolan and Ilya Tolstoy and published in Rosemary Jones Tung's "A Portrait of Lost Tibet." The rest are from the late 1940s, taken by Pietro Francesco Mele and published in his book, "Tibet."

You'll notice that the ends of the khuda are straight or concave, and the grips are sometimes very simple, with no pommel.

In all the books I have read, I have never seen a reference to the use of khuda in Tibet except these photos. Gyantse is in the south, not a great distance to get khuda in trade or to have retained them from the Gorkha invasions in the 1790s and 1850s. Monasteries retained weapons in their protector chapels, and this weapon may have appealed for use in dances as suitably otherworldly for its exotic form.