Salyan Special Question

D

davidf99

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Sep 27, 2011
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I recently came into possession of a very nice HI Salyan Special. I wonder if anyone here can tell me the origin of this design and its name. This model has extra engraving on the side of the blade that probably says "Salyan Special" in Devangari, but I'd like to know what the name signifies.

I found a reference to a Salyan style knife by Bill Martino in a posting dated 3/20/1999, so it's not new. Also a picture of the Salyan is in the logo of the HI web site main page, but no info about the knife or its origin.

I know that there is a Salyan District in Nepal and probably the Salyan style originated there, but that's still pretty vague. I found a blurb about "Salyan khukuri" in a web page by one of HI's competitors, but it was pretty much a boilerplate sales pitch like most of their listings, rather than actual history.

Anybody know more about this?
 
Kukri Info Amongst hundreds of Khukuri makers (Villages) in Nepal, Salyan, a remote district in west Nepal , is the only one that has retained the originality and authenticity of its khukuri of the ancient existence till date completely ignoring the modern demand, time and adjustment. Salyan, the founder of Salyani khukuri continues to make the original classic model (version) that was started in historic days when the then Army required khukuri for battles. One of the major producers of kukris during the 18th and 19th centuries’ wars, Salyanese contributed with varied range of kukris amongst which this particular Salyani khukuri is a reproduced model that was extensively used in many battles including the Gorkha campaign of “Unification of Nepal”
 
Ted:

I did a web search before posting my question. Your quotation is the blurb that I mentioned by the HI competitor. It's pretty much boilerplate. They say almost the same thing about all their khukuris. They were all "used extensively in many battles," etc. They also provide a description and a picture, neither of which bear much resemblance to the HI Salyan Special. In particular, the HI SP has a very distinctive cho design, which I haven't seen anywhere else, and which is not mentioned by the competitor.

So my question still stands. If anyone has any specific knowledge about the background of the HI Salyan Special, I'd appreciate hearing it.
 
"There's a village in midwest Nepal named Salyan and I think a district by the same name, too, and the style comes from there. The logo khukuri was made in Salyan about 60 years ago give or take a little." --Bill Martino, 05-04-2001
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/157757-Does-anyone-know-about-Salyans

"The logo khukuri is a very well made old WWII vet and is only 12 inches long." --Bill Martino, 05-30-2001
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/157841-looking-to-buy-first-khukuri
 
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