Ceylon (Sri Lanka) Mahout's knives

[David]

Originally Posted by Anandalal N.

See image "b" and detail of hilt "c" categorised as Kandyan knives i.e. a reference to the Kandyan Provinces of Sri Lanka which were the last areas to fall under the British in 1815. While this knife has the bird and the beast head from whose open mouth the rest of the hilt emerges, the blade does not have the 'guard'. The image is from Ancent Swords, Daggers and Knives in Sri Lankan Museums by P H D H de Silva and S Wickramasinghe.

These Kandyan knives you have just posted seem more in line with piha kaetta so i would not imagine they have much to do with mahouts.

[Tim Simmons]

Very interesting .