Ceylon (Sri Lanka) Mahout's knives

[Anandalal N.]

These are two mahout's knives from Ceylon. Note the iconography on the grip. Each knife also has a snake (Cobra) on the downward facing surface of the grip. Shall try to post the images of the snakes later. As you can see, some attempt has been made during its utilitarian life at outlining the imagery with a white chalky substance. The blade as you can see has a clip point with false edge. Point is sharp perhaps more from a utilitarian perspective in order to sink into vegetable material more easily for the purpose of preparing the food for the elephant as well as small medical procedures etc. The knife lives in a sheath tucked into the waist belt of the mahout that secures his Sarong (waist cloth). Rgds.