A slightly unique Piha Kaetta

[Jim McDougall]

What Alan has noted here presents some most interesting perspective on the Sri Lanka 'piha kaetta'. While we know the seemingly close cousin of these knives, the 'pichangetti' , has been established as a utility knife, and en suite are usually picks etc......it seems presumed the piha was intended for fighting. The term for the knife is supposed to be 'pihaya' , which I believe applies to a fighting knife, but I cannot recall the rest.
Perhaps someone here might bring out thier trusty 'Deraniyagala' ("Sinhalese Weapons and Armour", P.E.P. Deraniyagala, Journal of the Ceylon Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society", Part III , 1942). I do not have mine at hand and hope someone could check the text on that term. Also, it seems that this article (virtually the only specific reference focused on Sri Lankan weapons I am aware of) might detail the intended use of the piha/pihaya.

It would be most interesting to learn more on these seldom discussed weapons.

[spiral]

Originally Posted by Jim McDougall

. While we know the seemingly close cousin of these knives, the 'pichangetti' , has been established as a utility knife, and en suite are usually picks etc.

And of great cerimonial & cultral importance of coarse Jim as evidencend by Coorg wedding photos.

Heres a great website showing much history of the Piha....

linky

A site well worth exploring.

Your story of Phia Mr. Maisey reminds me of Nepal, one could speak to a villager about kukri & hear a kukri has been used to split kindling for heat & cooking for 4 generations in ones family & that is what its for.

That doesnt mean than 100.000 plus soldiers didnt use it as a weapon in ww1 alone or that many kings didnt own & wear great examples of them.

The Native narratives are great to have & vary valid in context, but they dont always show the full picture, I think?

Spiral

[derek]

Maisy,

Thanks for posting the anecdote about the scribe's using the piha! that confirms something I've been told before.

I had an ongoing discussion with the owner of the Serendib Gallery in Colombo several years ago and he echoed what you said verbatim. Here is one of his quotes I saved from our talks:
"The stylus is a 'ULKATUVA' used to train a [scribe] student to write on a palm leaf. Once he is trained he is permitted to use a different type of stylus the 'PANHINDA'." He also said this knife would never be used for fighting.

Let me stop here and say one thing: A piha is not a piha is not a piha. Confused? What I'm saying is that the sub-classifications and uses of the piha from a Sinhalese perspective were many and got quite specific.

Jim, the article you referred to is a PDF on pihaketta.com. The author alludes to many varieties of piha, each with its own specific name based on form, use, and even materials employed. Scribe's piha = Ul Piha; Crystal or green jade grip piha = Gal Mita Piha; curved blade piha = Vak Piha; etc. That article actually does list a piha kaetta as a "chopper" form of the piha.

We use one word for all of them, but they used many (like eskimos use many words for snow).

So it's very safe to assume that the piha you describe (Ul Piha: slender, straight blade, with stylus) would have been only for scribes.

But another form would have been intended for fighting.

[A. G. Maisey]

Yes Spiral, I tend to agree with you.

One of my very close friends is extremely knowledgeable in respect of khukri, he's married to a Nepalese lady and his father in law is a Brahmin who taught at an Indian university, his family connections in Nepal go to the highest level. He is not well known as a "khukri expert", because he chooses not to promote himself, and he has never published on the subject, but I have known him for more than 20 years, and have never known him to be incorrect in anything at all to do with Nepal, or with the Hindu faith.

The khukri, is actually a typical example of a common tool being used as a weapon.It most definitely is a general purpose tool, but a general purpose tool that also has distinct weapon forms, apart from the fact that a villager could use exactly the same khuk he uses to split wood with, as a weapon.It also has the status of national identity. Actually, in some ways it parrallels the bendha in Jawa; the bendha is a general purpose Javanese knife, looks a bit like a European pruning hook, and in Central Jawa it is used for splitting wood, lopping branches, hammering nails, clearing brush--- any purpose where a general purpose cutter can be used. But Raffles recorded it as weapon, and in the Surakarta Kraton, super size bendha were used in execution of criminals.

Similarly, the Madurese celurit, which is one of the most feared weapons in Indonesia today, is actually only a sickle. It has many forms, some designed for reaping, some for splitting wood, and some are definitely weapons. The same theme repeats and repeats throughout history, where people who use a particular tool in their daily work will then use the same tool as a weapon, then that tool develops specialised forms, and when it climbs out of the farmer's fileds into the king's palace, it becomes a work of art with gold inlay and an ivory handle.

The personal account I have of the piha can really only be a certified account of the piha as seen by the descendants of a court scribe who used it as I have described. Logically, where a stylus was present---and this type of piha seems to be pretty rare--- such a piha could probably be taken to be a scribe's knife.However, where a stylus was not present, it is concieveable that the knife could have had a weapon function. But I find it rather difficult to envisage such a design being produced purely for a weapon purpose. Possibly it may have parralleled the symbolism of the Javanese wedung, which was and is something never intended for use, but purely to symbolise a particular level in the court heirarchy.

Jim, on the spelling "pihaya".
The language used in Sri Lanka was not originally written in our alphabet. When we try to represent spoken sounds from any language in an alphabet that grew around totally different languages we do find problems, and accomodations need to be made.
Similarly, the addition of , or subtraction of , a prefix or suffix to a root word can often have varied meanings and/or implications dependent upon context, and also dependent upon historical period.
Personally, I'd be more than happy to call a piha simply a "Sri Lankan knife"; only reason I call it a piha is because it immediately conjures up an image for most people reading what I have written in this Forum.

[A. G. Maisey]

Thanks for your input on this Derek.

Nice to know that the Sri Lankan gentleman was correct.

Actually, he only referred to the one he had as a "piha", and if I look at the examples that you have given, it is clear to me that this is correct. The name of the object under discussion is "piha", but with an adjective describing the type of piha that it is.

I do not know the grammar of the language used in Sri Lanka, but it would surprise me if all the names for a piha that you have supplied should not be expressed with the generic first, and the descriptors second, such as :- piha gal mita, rather than gal mita piha, piha vak, rather than vak piha.

Any Sri Lankan speakers here who could clarify this? I will be able to check it eventually, but it could be some time before I'm in contact with my Sri Lankan source.

[A. G. Maisey]

Nope, looks like I was wrong.

Most generally used language in Sri Lanka is Sinhala, and it looks like adjectives precede nouns in Sinhala, so it would be gal mita piha and vak piha.

Also looks like "piha" is really "pihiya", but in speech the "--iy--" part of the word is not easily heard, it disappears into the "h" and the "a", similar to the way the "e" in "keris" is not heard and the word is heard as "kris".

[Jim McDougall]

Alan and Derek,
Thank you so much for the detailed and wonderfully explained material on these! It makes complete sense that this knife form has variations that might be rather tailored to different purposes, and the study in terminology is most interesting ( as we have discussed before Alan.

All best regards,
Jim

[A. G. Maisey]

unnecessary.