Persian knife

Ian · 18th January 2025, 10:46 PM

Ren Ren, thank you for redirecting thinking to Sri Lanka. I was able to find most of the letters on the blade in the Tamil alphabet, and the Tamil are indeed an important minority group in Sri Lanka. The inscription of text on palm leaves is something that was very common in Burma and other areas in SE Asia, but I did not associate that practice with Sri Lanka.

The form of these scribe knives is usually to have a convex spine, rather than the deeply concave spine of this example, at least for the Burmese examples I've seen. Perhaps the Southern Asian version is different.

How this example ended up in Spain is an interesting thought. Maybe a Portuguese traveler was involved.

18th January 2025, 10:46 PM	#4
Ian Vikingsword Staff Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: The Aussie Bush Posts: 4,396	Ren Ren, thank you for redirecting thinking to Sri Lanka. I was able to find most of the letters on the blade in the Tamil alphabet, and the Tamil are indeed an important minority group in Sri Lanka. The inscription of text on palm leaves is something that was very common in Burma and other areas in SE Asia, but I did not associate that practice with Sri Lanka. The form of these scribe knives is usually to have a convex spine, rather than the deeply concave spine of this example, at least for the Burmese examples I've seen. Perhaps the Southern Asian version is different. How this example ended up in Spain is an interesting thought. Maybe a Portuguese traveler was involved.