Khanjar Indian brass hilted, rams head knife

Kmaddock · 3rd January 2019, 09:31 PM

Hi all
I just got the attached knife
It has lovely heft to it and is v well balanced in the hand and would be very effective as a weapon.
Blade held onto the handle with 2 metal rivets
Good edge to the blade in spite of the obvious grime
Blade is 9 inches long and inch and half at hilt.

It is uncleaned at present and I am quiet reluctant to clean it at all except to clean the rust off the blade, I prefers to keep my collection as dirty (platina covered) as possible except without rust.

However is there a chance that the blade might be wootz
I do not know if this is a high end ceremonial knife or just decorative
If it was wootz I would love to clean the blade properly and bring it back to its previous beauty

Jim mc dougall has previously passed some comment on a similar hilted knife with an explanation of the rams head iconography

The rams head is termed 'meshamuki' (Pant, 1980, New Delhi, p.113, fig. 294, mesha=sheep, but applies to ram as well). Most of these 'rams head' hilts on daggers or swords seem associated with Rajputs in N. India in the periods noted. According to the Vedas, many animals and creatures are associated as vehicles for various divinities in the Hindu pantheon of deities, and the ram is one for that of the four Agnivashi clans' .

So my questions
Any idea on age, is this a ceremonial knife pattern and what chance there is wootz under the crud on the blade. If anyone has any other comments or observations ask away.

V cloudy in Ireland so apologies about my pictures

Regards
Ken

3rd January 2019, 09:31 PM	#1
Kmaddock Member Join Date: May 2014 Location: Ireland Posts: 543	Khanjar Indian brass hilted, rams head knife Hi all I just got the attached knife It has lovely heft to it and is v well balanced in the hand and would be very effective as a weapon. Blade held onto the handle with 2 metal rivets Good edge to the blade in spite of the obvious grime Blade is 9 inches long and inch and half at hilt. It is uncleaned at present and I am quiet reluctant to clean it at all except to clean the rust off the blade, I prefers to keep my collection as dirty (platina covered) as possible except without rust. However is there a chance that the blade might be wootz I do not know if this is a high end ceremonial knife or just decorative If it was wootz I would love to clean the blade properly and bring it back to its previous beauty Jim mc dougall has previously passed some comment on a similar hilted knife with an explanation of the rams head iconography The rams head is termed 'meshamuki' (Pant, 1980, New Delhi, p.113, fig. 294, mesha=sheep, but applies to ram as well). Most of these 'rams head' hilts on daggers or swords seem associated with Rajputs in N. India in the periods noted. According to the Vedas, many animals and creatures are associated as vehicles for various divinities in the Hindu pantheon of deities, and the ram is one for that of the four Agnivashi clans' . So my questions Any idea on age, is this a ceremonial knife pattern and what chance there is wootz under the crud on the blade. If anyone has any other comments or observations ask away. V cloudy in Ireland so apologies about my pictures Regards Ken Attached Images