Small sickle chopper -- Southern Indian (?)

[olikara]

I was going through some older threads and just resurrected this one as I saw a chopper from kerala that Bill wanted an ID on.

We still see these choppers in kerala and this one is called 'Aruvala' - 'Vala' means edged weapon. I am not sure if they were used in war in kerala earlier, but they do come up in various sizes today. However their basic shape remains the same. The hilt is rarely as ornate as the one Bill has shown here.

They serve a unique purpose. The sharper edge is used to cut through thick grass and to dehusk coconuts. Once the coconut is dehusked, the other side of the Aruval is used to strike the coconut shell and split it into two. This is the use of the leading edge on the blunt face that you can see in Bill's photograph.

Kerala has the largest area of land under coconut cultivation till recently. Now cash crops like rubber, vanilla and cocoa are taking a toll on coconut. Incidentally, Kerala itself is derieved fron 'Kera' - Sanskrit for Coconut. The English word 'Coir' is inturn also derived from the same root 'Kera'.