"The Gurkhas' stall at the bazaar"

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Steve Tall

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A bit of reading for a slow news day. From a battle scene in Kipling's "The Drums of the Fore and Aft":


"...The Fore and Aft held their fire till one bullet could drive through five or six men, and the front of the Afghan force gave on the volley. They then selected their men, and slew them with deep gasps and short hacking coughs, and groanings of leather belts against strained bodies, and realized for the first time that an Afghan attacked is far less formidable than an Afghan attacking; which fact old soldiers might have told them.

But they had no old soldiers in their ranks.

The Gurkhas' stall at the bazaar was the noisiest, for the men were engaged—to a nasty noise as of beef being cut on the block—with the kukri, which they preferred to the bayonet; well knowing how the Afghan hates the half-moon blade..."


The Drums of the Fore and Aft by Rudyard Kipling
Published 1889

Can be read online here:
http://www.archive.org/stream/drumsforeandaft00kipliala#page/n7/mode/2up

Can be downloaded (.pdf) here:
http://ia700208.us.archive.org/7/items/drumsforeandaft00kipliala/drumsforeandaft00kipliala.pdf
 
a female buffalo is also called a 'cow'. i suspect kipling meant a water buffalo & was using the generic meaning of 'cow' as a female ruminant.

water buffalo are killed and eaten in nepal.

beef is not. it is the cattle breeds that are sacred & not killed or eaten by most hindu. {apparently a sizeable chunk of hindus in so. india do eat beef.}
 
kronckew said:
a female buffalo is also called a 'cow'. i suspect kipling meant a water buffalo & was using the generic meaning of 'cow' as a female ruminant.

water buffalo are killed and eaten in nepal.

beef is not. it is the cattle breeds that are sacred & not killed or eaten by most hindu. {apparently a sizeable chunk of hindus in so. india do eat beef.}
Click to expand...

So do Muslims. They refuse to eat pig.

Paper cartridges used to be lubricated with tallow. For waterproofing and stuff. A major cause of the Indian Mutiny was the rumor that cartridges were greased with a combination of pork fat and beef fat. Since you tore a cartridge open with your teeth, both Hindu and Muslim Sepoys objected. Just a bit.
 
of course the leaders of the revolt told their followers that it was beef fat if they were hindu and that it was pork fat if they were muslim. in actuality it was a vegetable fat tallow. propaganda was a very useful weapon even then.
 
"How the Afghan hates the half moon blade" I wonder if that is true? I know it's just a story, but you kinda gotta wonder if the afghans do fear the khukuri in real life. I know I would if my enemy was known to use it in battle. Anybody?
 
I know I fear MY OWN kukris, given how many a negligent cuts I have dealt myself. Just imagine the damage if a kuk was used with purporse and skill... It's the weight of a kuk, I believe, that makes the slightest cut a disaster.
 
I have a feeling they hated the guys wielding them even more... I'd bet it goes back to some of the actions the ghurkas were involved in during the 19th century up in that neck of the woods...I remember reading one book where the tribal fighters would yell at the ghurkas that they'd much rather fight the british or the indians!!
 
They are dangerous fighters in the hills. They are just as tough as we are. The Kukri is as deadly the Khyber Knife.

Hummm….I think I’ll go fight the British.
 
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