- Collection type
- Object
- Description
- Kukri or knife [.1] with sheath, tweezers and two smaller knives [1886.33.1 .2- .5] [SM 02/05/2007]
- Long description
- Kukri or knife [.1] with sheath, tweezers and two smaller knives [1886.33.1 .2- .5]. The knife has a carved oval shaped hilt that curves along its length. It has a ridge around the centre and has an expanded blunt butt. The blade is single edged and curved with a cut out crescent shaped at the base near the hilt. The blade has a fuller "aunlo bal" on each side of the blade near the spine. [SM 02/05/2007]
- Geographical reference
- Cultural groups
- Gurkha
- Date / Period
- Date made: Before 1830, uncertain Date made: 1830, uncertain
- Date collected
- ?On or before 1830
- Acquisition information
- Transferred: 04/03/1886
- Materials and processes
- Material Steel Metal, Material Wood Plant, Process Forged (Metal), Process Carved
- Dimensions
- Width: max 46 mm, Length: max 465 mm
- Object numbers
- Accession number: 1886.1.33.1 Other numbers: 77 33
- Research and responses
The following notes are drawn from research compiled by Andy Mills as part of the DCF Cutting Edge Project 2006-2007. This kukri is the definitive Nepalese knife/shortsword, and almost synonymous with the Gurkha – the people of the middle hills of eastern and western Nepal. As a blade, it is quite distinctive, being significantly heavier towards the head, one-edged on the convex side, and fullered. Like all kukri, the sheath of this example contains small integral sub-sheaths for smaller knives (karda), and tweezers of exactly the same form. Although the Ashmolean accession register records that the pouch on the back of the sheath is intended to contain a portion of Koranic scripture, it appears that this pouch is actually intended to carry a whetstone, for the purpose of keeping the knives sharp (Brigade of Gurkhas Website, www.army.mod.uk/brigade_of_gurkhas/).
Although the kukri is principally thought of as a weapon, its overwhelming use is non-combative. Like the Naga dao, the kukri is a general-purpose heavy tool for opening up overgrown bush, chopping firewood, dressing and butchering animals, opening tinned food, and so on. Its use as a weapon of war would seem to be incidental to this. This said, Nepalese boys acquire a kukri for practical purposes at an early age, and are extremely adept at its use by the time they reach adulthood (Brigade of Gurkhas Website).
As we saw strongly paralleled in the ritual treatment of the Rajput khanda, the kukri is ritually exalted in Hindu Nepal at the festival of Dasain, where Durga is glorified as in India. Each village has a large two-handed kukri (termed konra), with which buffalo and goats are sacrificed at this time. The W-shaped notch at the base of the blade (termed kaura) is a religious representation of a lingam (phallic symbol), which conventionally is understood to represent Shiva (Brigade of Gurkhas Website).
A number of popular myths revolve around kukri – perhaps the best known being the belief that a kukri ought to spill blood before it can be resheathed. This is untrue. [SM 17/06/2008]
1886.1.33.1
Kukri or knife [.1] with sheath, tweezers and two smaller knives [1886.33.1 .2- .5] [SM 02/05/2007]
On display
1886.1.33.1
Digital asset copyright: Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford
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