Tulwar-hilted kukri information

[fearn]

Hi Gonzalo,

You're right, we can't prove the khukuri is not an independent invention on the Indian subcontinent, somewhere, in the last thousand years or so. That's quite possible.

Reminds me of some TV show I was watching that claimed that the crossbow was a chinese invention (sort of like gunpowder, but older) that traveled on the silk road to Europe. The point that Jared Diamond and others like to make is that very little in Eurasia was independently invented, be it writing, alphabets, logograms, paper, gunpowder, domesticated animals or certain forms of government, simply because there was so much trade from Europe and North Africa all the way to China, starting apparently around 1000 BCE. The amounts and routes certainly varied over time, but things and ideas traveled.

That said, I'd suggest that the we can make a pretty good case for the khukuri design dispersing east from the Mediterranean and ending up in Nepal.

One thing to remember is a khukuri, for all its virtues, isn't a perfect weapon for all situations. Nothing is. I'd bet one reason it's stayed popular in Nepal is because it fits the needs of the people well. Whether the design originated in the Himalayas somewhere, or whether it originated in the mountains of the Mediterranean basin and made the trek on someone's belt, it's well-adapted for a rural, agrarian lifestyle on the slopes.

F

[Gonzalo G]

I agree with you, Fearn, all that can be. Though it seems that Nepal is out of the commercial routes, that can be. The problem is to find evidence. I believe there is too much to discover and learn in history and archeology matters...I feel we are just beginning...too many questions unanswered, and clouding everything too many myths and speculations...The mediterranen basin is the source of the more antique cultures. But about the khukri, I believe is crucial to find out when did it appear, and how were their original versions. If it is a latter weapon, lets say 17th-18th Century, we must find its origins in more near places and weapons.
Regards

Gonzalo

[Tim Simmons]

Sorry I just cannot believe the Alexander myth. It smacks of Victorian bollocks, like Congo knives being dropped from trees "the Congolese live in trees you know" Then adopted by the "COLLECTORS" The Victornian collectors had intertests in ideas of collections from noble races. We know collector belief can become very firmly entrenched. As for visiting museums that can be purely just a collection, perhaps with a little knowledge based on the old story. Who is not going to tell the wealthy visitor what they want to hear?

The Victorians had no idea of Mohenjo-Daro when forming these ideas of Greek influence.
Just the idea that the Western world formed from Greco/Roman base has no vestige of such a splendid weapon should make one question the idea that one small pocket of people should adopt this weapon and nothing else of the culture.

In this map of Alexanders route to India he got nowhere near Napal. Why not find the Kukri {outside of British Empire production} in Pakistan and the other lands on his advance and retreat.

http://www.utexas.edu/courses/ancien....php?linenum=8