Adya Katti for comment

[Jim McDougall]

Hi Stu,
I admit I dont know a great deal on these, but I hate it when a thread just goes unanswered. While these indeed are known to have been used in the agricultural sense, they are certainly formidable enough to serve as weapons as called upon......in fact throughout ethnographic cultural spheres, this is often the case.
Ian, outstanding insights on these, thank you. It sounds almost like these Coorg's were much like the Gurkha's, who were also warriors who rose through the ranks in the Indian and British armies.

It seems that in discussions on these some time ago, there were cases of these being painted red, or to that effect. I wonder what that significance was.
Couldnt find anything in notes.

[kahnjar1]

A couple of attachments.....The Coorg Flag and a Coorg Warrior.

[Jim McDougall]

Originally Posted by kahnjar1

A couple of attachments.....The Coorg Flag and a Coorg Warrior.

OK, that guy looks pretty serious!!! agricultural or not, those knives look bad!
The guns they used it seems Ive seen talked about a lot as well, in that 'dumping' in 1884 they got well over 7000 of these guns.
The flag is great, crossed ayda katti and pichangetti........those knives are interesting as well.

[kahnjar1]

Originally Posted by Jim McDougall

OK, that guy looks pretty serious!!! agricultural or not, those knives look bad!
The guns they used it seems Ive seen talked about a lot as well, in that 'dumping' in 1884 they got well over 7000 of these guns.
The flag is great, crossed ayda katti and pichangetti........those knives are interesting as well.

So the Brits dumped guns as well!! That just might explain why today there are IMHO significantly fewer Coorg muskets available for sale or in auctions in comparison to the number of Toradors offered. Obviously the same rules did not apply in other regions of India.
Stu

[Jim McDougall]

Originally Posted by kahnjar1

So the Brits dumped guns as well!! That just might explain why today there are IMHO significantly fewer Coorg muskets available for sale or in auctions in comparison to the number of Toradors offered. Obviously the same rules did not apply in other regions of India.
Stu

Yup! a tragic travesty! The Brits did however retain select items as souvenirs or for posterity, much as in the Tanjore debacle 1870s as described by Walhouse (the original source used by Egerton, Oldman et al in many cases).

At Tanjore, the armory in Tamil India, it was dismantled and the multitudes of huge volumes of Indian arms were basically destroyed. Other than key items of interest or higher quality arms, most were reduced to scrap by the Brits.

[BANDOOK]

Originally Posted by Jim McDougall

Yup! a tragic travesty! The Brits did however retain select items as souvenirs or for posterity, much as in the Tanjore debacle 1870s as described by Walhouse (the original source used by Egerton, Oldman et al in many cases).

At Tanjore, the armory in Tamil India, it was dismantled and the multitudes of huge volumes of Indian arms were basically destroyed. Other than key items of interest or higher quality arms, most were reduced to scrap by the Brits.

Hi Stu
here is an unusual Adya Katti from my collection with a serrated blade
regards
Rajesh

[Bob A]

I must have missed the original post, apologies.

I'd been given to understand that the ayda katti was rare, but I've seen a half-dozen for sale over the last several years. Most of those had more ornate hilts than the one posted above. So I'd agree with "uncommon, rather than rare." I don't know if the fancier examples were preserved because of their design elements over the plainer ones, or if they are seen more often because the marketplace fancies them.

What actually is rare is the belt attachment which permits hands-free carry. I've only seen one come onto the market, and one picture from a museum.

[Ian]

Here's another chopper from the same general area with a plain wooden handle.


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