How old is the Kora, and from where does it origin?

[sirupate]

I was recently re-reading Egerton's Indian and Oriental Arms and Armour and he made an interesting distinction. He attributed the kukri to the Gorkhas, and the kora to the "Nepali people." It's an interesting book, and while he's far from a perfect source, he was writing during the colonial time, when the Brits were dealing with the various tribes and kingdoms of India and the Himalayas.

Some intersting points there Fearn,

The main problem with Egerton's work is that he never visited Nepal, so information was at least third hand. The term Gorkhas is actualy quite a complicted one, and more to do with Rajput terminology, cerainley most Parbatiyas and definately the Kiranti would not consider themselves 'Gorkha', except in an employed military sense. However the kukri was universal in Nepal. The khunda is not universal in Nepal, and is infact comparitively rare, it is not commonly found in the villages of Nepal (so not a Nepali people weapon), remembering that Gorkha itself was only a village in reality!
I hope that helps a little, cheers Simon

[sirupate]

Hello Dennee,

Crossed posts!

I don't pretend to know much about the Gorkhas, but they are traditionally considered to have originated in a Rajput clan that migrated into Nepal and no doubt represent a mixing of indigenous and outside peoples. If you have a new theory, I'm certainly not the one to dispute it.

Quite correct about the Rajput clan IMHO

And there are certainly Tibetans in Nepal, most notably the Sherpas and the people of Mustang or Lo Monthang in the west. They are generally considered to have come from the north and live in the north of Nepal.

Tibetans are all over Nepal these days, and have an amazing ability to locate you when your trekking in some distant mountain to sell you their goods!!

I for one will consider the khuda to have originated in the south, given that it is prevalent in Nepal and northern India, until I see evidence to the contrary

The khuda is not particularly prevalent in Nepal, but I agree it comes from the south, south of Nepal IMHO

[dennee]

Good, point, sirupate. Since the occupation of Tibet by Chinese troops, many Tibetans fled to Nepal. Before the twentieth century, Tibetan peoples were more concentrated in the north.

I didn't get into this discussion because of a special interest in khuda, but because of the characterization of a type of khuda as Tibetan. I'd sure like to know all about Tibetan weapons, so if the khuda is Tibetan or there is a Tibetan offshoot, I'd like to know. Hopefully, more information is forthcoming from our membership (and I'd like to hear discussion about the blade shapes in the photos), and I'm willing to keep my mind open enough to accept evidence that contradicts what I currently think. But the few examples I see in photos from the 1940s are not much more compelling as evidence of a Tibetan origin than is the fact that I have one hanging on my wall evidence of an eastern U.S. origin.

It is a general characteristic of traditional Tibetan blades longer than several inches that they are constructed of laminated steel. If we found khuda of laminated steel, for instance (as there are kukhri blades of laminated steel), we might have something as to the origin of the blade steel at least, if not necessarily its shape and its use, as the ultimate shape of a blade can be determined by the end users.