Significance of Beaded Edges/Borders on South Indian Weapons?

[mross]

Originally Posted by Jim McDougall

Me too! Always ready to learn While it is unlikely to broadly assign the origin of the beaded. raised dot motif to any one source, it is interesting to see the uses and presence of it in various cultural and religious contexts through history.

Not to hijack the thread, thou this may. I think it has been firmly established that the bead "embellishment" occurs across time and and culture. In America the Native Americans have a very long history of bead-work. I think a much more interesting question is; Why the bead?