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- Nov 29, 2002
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After reading the defining kukri thread I thought I would add this.
Myself & a friend interveiwed at length over many days in Nepal, several knowledgable people to try to get to the bottom of this this questian.
They included a well educated master kami called Nawaraj from Dharan who was fortuanate enough to have been educated alongside the Gurkhas children on a British Army base where his father was a kami, & a well known kukri dealer from Kathmando , Ram Kumar, That Simon & myself spent much time with while we were in Nepal.
Various other people confirmed what was said by them for us. Ravi the descendent of a long line of Gurkhas & Gorkhas back to at least the Indian mutiney confirmed the religious & spiritual connotations.
Various Bhramins from the family of an Air hostess I met in Nepal, have been kind enough to add thier input to the interpritation factors of the designs involved & explained that in thier eyes, all Hindu weapons have religious symbols to conteract the malevolent spirits that can be attracted to weapons that have been involved in violence & bloodshed, Such symbols as Buddhas eye on Ram Dao & the Lotus on kora are other examples.
That said on a practical level The cho {which is usualy called the kaudi in Nepal} they say practicaly speaking it is a device to drip blood to reduce the amount of it that gets on to the handle. It also clearly provides an area that allows the ending of the blade bevel without a raised ricaso.{Handy both for maker & keeping later sharpenings tidy.}
.
Interestingly they & most of the other Nepali sources we spoke to say most of the original designs are religious symbols usualy based on the shape of various temple roofs.
Shivas Lingham, from the god of victory, is the commonest although they say it is also doubles as the cows hoof. also a sacred symbol. {Which in Nepali eyes is doubly good if it can be both things.} as both Nawaraj & Ram explained to us that when a particular kaudi looked like a particular symbol to one person that they percieved as something else that was doubly auspicios as it could have both meanings, so although the kaudi was made with a particular meaning or shape by the kami, interpritation & meaning is in the eye of the beholder as well.
Buddhas temple, peacocks {Of which on is both the symbol of Nepal & also connected to both Buddha & some Hindu gods of war, longevity etc.. } & apparently even christs cross can be also represented.
I am sure some kaudi have different meanings from this but my research, leads me to belive they are all protective religious symbols, the sun god, crescent moon symbols & the sexual organs of the gods as examples. Whether particular symbols were prefered by individual, kami, or particular workshops or {so called armourys} we could find no definate proof but to me it does seem quite possible.
Intrestingly The small stars or circles often found on the majority of commercal post 1960 kukri at the end of the small spines fullers or grooves also represent Lord Buddhas eyes one of the familar all seeing god symbols one sees all over Nepal. {& indeed on Ram Dao.}
Hope thats of some help or intrest.
Spiral
Heres examples of Peacock, Shivas lingham {cows hoof.} & Buddhas roof, kaudi.
The bottom one also looks like its probably a temple roof, perhaps one near Calcutta, or Queeta ? as the Mk.1 carrys, FW fort william marks & those of Queeta armoury as well. amongst many others.{last 3,company battalion,dates etc.}
Myself & a friend interveiwed at length over many days in Nepal, several knowledgable people to try to get to the bottom of this this questian.
They included a well educated master kami called Nawaraj from Dharan who was fortuanate enough to have been educated alongside the Gurkhas children on a British Army base where his father was a kami, & a well known kukri dealer from Kathmando , Ram Kumar, That Simon & myself spent much time with while we were in Nepal.
Various other people confirmed what was said by them for us. Ravi the descendent of a long line of Gurkhas & Gorkhas back to at least the Indian mutiney confirmed the religious & spiritual connotations.
Various Bhramins from the family of an Air hostess I met in Nepal, have been kind enough to add thier input to the interpritation factors of the designs involved & explained that in thier eyes, all Hindu weapons have religious symbols to conteract the malevolent spirits that can be attracted to weapons that have been involved in violence & bloodshed, Such symbols as Buddhas eye on Ram Dao & the Lotus on kora are other examples.
That said on a practical level The cho {which is usualy called the kaudi in Nepal} they say practicaly speaking it is a device to drip blood to reduce the amount of it that gets on to the handle. It also clearly provides an area that allows the ending of the blade bevel without a raised ricaso.{Handy both for maker & keeping later sharpenings tidy.}
.
Interestingly they & most of the other Nepali sources we spoke to say most of the original designs are religious symbols usualy based on the shape of various temple roofs.
Shivas Lingham, from the god of victory, is the commonest although they say it is also doubles as the cows hoof. also a sacred symbol. {Which in Nepali eyes is doubly good if it can be both things.} as both Nawaraj & Ram explained to us that when a particular kaudi looked like a particular symbol to one person that they percieved as something else that was doubly auspicios as it could have both meanings, so although the kaudi was made with a particular meaning or shape by the kami, interpritation & meaning is in the eye of the beholder as well.
Buddhas temple, peacocks {Of which on is both the symbol of Nepal & also connected to both Buddha & some Hindu gods of war, longevity etc.. } & apparently even christs cross can be also represented.
I am sure some kaudi have different meanings from this but my research, leads me to belive they are all protective religious symbols, the sun god, crescent moon symbols & the sexual organs of the gods as examples. Whether particular symbols were prefered by individual, kami, or particular workshops or {so called armourys} we could find no definate proof but to me it does seem quite possible.
Intrestingly The small stars or circles often found on the majority of commercal post 1960 kukri at the end of the small spines fullers or grooves also represent Lord Buddhas eyes one of the familar all seeing god symbols one sees all over Nepal. {& indeed on Ram Dao.}
Hope thats of some help or intrest.
Spiral
Heres examples of Peacock, Shivas lingham {cows hoof.} & Buddhas roof, kaudi.
The bottom one also looks like its probably a temple roof, perhaps one near Calcutta, or Queeta ? as the Mk.1 carrys, FW fort william marks & those of Queeta armoury as well. amongst many others.{last 3,company battalion,dates etc.}
