Obscure knife--Kota "kris"

[Ian]

Hi Charles,

Yes, very surprising that this would be an Indian knife from one of the "aboriginal" cultures. The ricasso suggests to me that it may have some European influence--I don't think it is necessarily a traditional knife from the Kota people, but it might be. There are other wavy bladed knives from India. I just don't know enough about the area from which it was apparently collected.

Alan,

Thank you for your comment too. I inserted "kris" in the title because that was a quote from the description of the museum, but the style of this knife is clearly different from the Indonesian keris, as you rightly point out.

Ian

[CharlesS]

Alan,

Perhaps I erred by not being more specific and saying that the very earliest forebearers of the keris may have originated in India, and not the "modern" keris form. I am fully aware that some Indonesian scholars even argue this point.

As you know I am an admirer of your research and knowledge, and I have ascertained the same sort of generality in your own work in introducing the origins of the keris and the early influence of Indian seafaring traders in Indonesian history: http://www.vikingsword.com/ethsword/maisey/index.html

So that is, indeed, what I meant and apologize for the lack of specifics.

[David]

Originally Posted by Ian

Thank you for your comment too. I inserted "kris" in the title because that was a quote from the description of the museum, but the style of this knife is clearly different from the Indonesian keris, as you rightly point out.

A museum should know better than to call such a blade like this a "kris", especially the American Museum of Natural History. The kris/keris is a rather specific blade form and i get tired of seeing just any flamboyant blade labelled as a such.