Ceylon (Sri Lanka) Mahout's knives

Anandalal N. · 2nd November 2016, 05:51 PM

Detlef - Glad it is useful.

Rajesh - I must thank you for calling me on to the mat on this one. These I was informed were sourced from Mahouts. So they are of course authentic and my research confirms same. Of course if there is an Indonesian connection that is very interesting and should be pursued. Please let me have some references if possible. The following image shows a larger but less elaborate knife of the same type from the following web page - http://www.going-gypsy.com/207285007

The caption to the image is self explanatory and reads as follows:

"Ananda is Ranmenika's mahout and our boss when we're around her. One of the coordinators told us that Ananda's mahout knife was falling apart. There is a special village that makes mahout's knives so with the other mahouts' help we arranged to get Ananda a new one."

[Ananda the Mahout and Ranmenika the elephant]

The image shows a larger knife with the clip point and the 'guard' formed of a projection of the blade itself. This would be useful even in a working knife so that the finger does not accidentally slip onto the blade. However, it may have had other uses. Parker (1909) states that when we read of murder being committed by plunging a weapon into the victims we may be certain that the Knife was resorted to in many a fight. The grip is not clear but shows the ornamentation.

So that answers some of Vandoos questions. Yes they are still made. Yes the Mahouts still carry them. No the modern ones are not as elaborate.

Anan.

2nd November 2016, 05:51 PM	#6
Anandalal N. Member Join Date: Dec 2008 Posts: 84	Detlef - Glad it is useful. Rajesh - I must thank you for calling me on to the mat on this one. These I was informed were sourced from Mahouts. So they are of course authentic and my research confirms same. Of course if there is an Indonesian connection that is very interesting and should be pursued. Please let me have some references if possible. The following image shows a larger but less elaborate knife of the same type from the following web page - http://www.going-gypsy.com/207285007 The caption to the image is self explanatory and reads as follows: "Ananda is Ranmenika's mahout and our boss when we're around her. One of the coordinators told us that Ananda's mahout knife was falling apart. There is a special village that makes mahout's knives so with the other mahouts' help we arranged to get Ananda a new one." [Ananda the Mahout and Ranmenika the elephant] The image shows a larger knife with the clip point and the 'guard' formed of a projection of the blade itself. This would be useful even in a working knife so that the finger does not accidentally slip onto the blade. However, it may have had other uses. Parker (1909) states that when we read of murder being committed by plunging a weapon into the victims we may be certain that the Knife was resorted to in many a fight. The grip is not clear but shows the ornamentation. So that answers some of Vandoos questions. Yes they are still made. Yes the Mahouts still carry them. No the modern ones are not as elaborate. Anan. Attached Images