Burmese, East Asian Mak Chopper?

[Tim Simmons]

Is this Asian? 44cm long in total, blade 22cm. If so where from? Any information would be very helpful.

This is a follow on from this thread.
http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=5314

[Tim Simmons]

Sorted

[ariel]

That's a pretty little Mak, isn't it?
Maks are essentially glaives and should be held in both hands. I just try to imagine a midget wielding it and....
Where is the Snow White?

[Lew]

Ooooo! Here comes mak the knife

Nice piece you have there Tim.


Lew

[RhysMichael]

I almost looks like a ram dao to me but the curve goes the wrong way and there is no eye inscription

[Tim Simmons]

I think it is a Ram Dao. Specific to the worship of Kali. The black wood being relevent to this purpose. The example in the link is very nice with the white Ivory symbolic of Shiva. It is really quite amazing what one can learn from an ebay purchase.
http://www.trocadero.com/faganarms/i...tem424192.html

[fearn]

Here's an another off-the-wall idea: it's a rochin, from the Matayoshi tradition of kobudo. I just saw this a few days ago, and thanks for bringing this thread up where I could make the connection.

Check out this YouTube video , and look at the weapon nearest the teacher's right knee. It's a long-handled, short-bladed, dao-like weapon about the length of the man's forearm, and the back is wavy. Matayoshi reportedly learned the weapon in China. For those interested, the "dao" rochin is discussed around 4:15 into the video.

Just a thought,

F

[Tim Simmons]

fearn, interesting thought.
China does have a border with Afghanistan and India. The weapon in the video is very much heavier than the two knives we are looking at here so I would dismiss that as an origin. However there could be some link in the weapon from Oriental arms archive, ref- the guard as seen on many Chinese border lands Dha/Dao. I think you have really opened things. One could see a relation between the Nepalese sacrificial knife from a link in the thread, to the most recently post knife and mine. We could be looking at a meeting of south and east. The one with a guard does seem to suggest a utility knife or possible weapon.

In an earlier time without todays set political borders the Afghan/Chinese border would just be part of central Asia? does this add up?

The Nepalese sacrificial knife, just to refresh the memory. Think NE Nepal, Tibet, China and so on mixed up
http://www.trocadero.com/faganarms/i...24192/en1.html

[Tim Simmons]

Any idea what knives are used in the preparation of a sky burial? or am I really loosing it!!!!

Go to the section "disassembling the body" a few comments on the knife. Not very helpful but hint at a specialist tool?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sky_burial

[Tim Simmons]

Before retiring for the night I would just like to add; you cannot deny that there is something here with the two examples shown.

[katana]

Hi Tim,
did you notice this....

"......A kartika is a small, symbolic crescent knife or 'chopper', used in Buddhist ceremony. It symbolizes the severance of all material and worldly bonds and is crowned with a vajra or dorje, which is said to destroy ignorance, and leads to enlightenment. In Buddhist teachings, this tool is held in the right hand of Yama, the conqueror of death. It is also used in Feng Shui."


From this...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kartika_%28knife%29

And following on from that...
"....The Kartika (Skt.) or curved knife symbolises the cutting of conventional wisdom by the ultimate insight into emptiness. Is is usually present as a pair, together with the skullcup, filled with wisdom nectar. On a more simple level, the skull is a reminder of (our) impermanence. Between the knife and the handle is a makara-head, a mythical monster.[23]"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ch%C3%B6d



The chopper is one of the most prominent weapons used by Buddhism's angry deities, both male and female. Continuously brandished by them or simply carried in their hands, its purpose is to chop up disbelievers.

This curved flaying-knife is modeled on the Indian ' knife of the butchers', used for skinning animal hides. The gibbous crescent of its blade, which terminates in a sharp point or curved hook, combines the flaying implements of a cutting-knife and scraping blade, and the piercing activity of a dagger or pulling-hook. The blade's crescent is used for cutting through flesh and scraping it clean, separating the outer and inner as 'appearance and emptiness'. The sharp hook or point of the blade is used for the more delicate acts of flaying: the initial incising of the carcass, the pulling out of veins and tendons, and cutting around the orifices of the skin.




Regards David