Khukuri
| Khukuri | |
|---|---|
|
|
| Information | |
| Weapon type: | knife |
| Designations: | Khukuri |
| Use: | Weapon, traditional weapon |
| Creation time: | around 15th century |
| Working time: | til today |
| Region of origin / author: |
Nepal |
| Distribution: | Nepal , England , today worldwide |
| Overall length: | about 35-57 cm |
| Blade length: | about 25-43 cm |
| Blade width: | about 6 cm |
| Handle: | Wood, horn, ivory , metal |
| Particularities: | The Kukri knives are the hand-to-hand combat weapon used by the Gurkha troops in Indian, British and Nepalese service. |
| Lists on the subject | |
The Khukuri ( Nepali : खुकुरी , Khukuri ; often referred to as Kukhris or Khukri hereinafter) is a heavy, towards the curved cutting knife with widened in the middle of the back blade, which both as a weapon and as a tool is used. It is mostly carried in a leather-covered wooden sheath with a short metal chape .
use
The khukuri is not used as a throwing weapon, but exclusively as a cutting weapon . It is an integral part of the traditional costume of the male Nepalese as well as the typical edged weapon of the Gurkha in the Nepalese, Indian or British service. A rough subdivision is civil or military khukuri as well as the versions used for ritual acts with a total length of over 80 cm.
The oldest surviving khukuri supposedly belonged to Drabya Shah, the Raja of Gorkha (around 1630); however, similar weapons probably have a much longer tradition.
The British military models of the Khukuri
In addition to the civilly procured khukuri, which are often used in active service, weapons that were removed by the military were also issued from around 1903. The first model in this series is the so-called "Mark I", a very heavy and front-heavy knife, for which the question of weapon or tool cannot be clearly answered.
At the beginning of the First World War , production of the version known as the “Mark II” begins. The weapon is lighter and also produced with a thinner blade than the previous model. Various, slightly different variants were produced up until the 1920s.
Although no longer stamped with “Mark II”, various productions from the Second World War are also included in this model today . Typical examples are the manufacturer "PIONEER" in Calcutta or the workshop operating under the manufacturer's mark "M43". The latter then led to a wrong model name in American publications, since the Khukuri was interpreted as the 1943 model.
Although the shape and workmanship differ slightly from each other, the handle base, which is mostly soldered onto the blade, can be regarded as a common distinguishing feature of the Mark I and Mark II.
From 1944 the British Gurkhas released the model manufactured by various manufacturers, which is now commonly referred to as the "Mark III". However, this model name is not used for blade acceptance. It is therefore an interpretation that the successor to the official “Mark II” is now the “Mark III”. A similar conclusion is made with the so-called "Mark I". Based on a “Mark II” labeled in this way, the earlier model must then be a “Mark I”. This statement may be correct, but there is no source evidence.
The same applies to the so-called “Mark IV”, by far the rarest model in this series. It was manufactured in 1951 by the Wilkinson Sword Company in a number of approx. 1400 pieces. The only - technically excellent - English production of a Khukuri model differs clearly in execution and processing from the Indian or Nepalese productions, while there should hardly be any differences to the earlier models in terms of combat suitability.
From the 1960s onwards, the khukuris are made in Nepal again. To this end, the British administration concludes contracts with local manufacturing companies. The standardized (buffalo horn handle with brass fittings) models, at least for the early pieces, have an acceptance stamp from the orderly depot of Nepal together with the year. The traditional wooden scabbards are still covered with buffalo leather and equipped with a brass chape.
The lion head khukuri
The lion head khukuri is always in a sheath. This is mostly made of wood and covered with black leather. At the end there is a chape. In most cases, the handle is made of black horn, sometimes wood or metal, black and white horn is rarely used. It is decorated with metal rings made of brass or aluminum, more rarely with iron or silver. There are two rivets in the handle, around which there are sometimes points, creating a kind of flower or sun. At the end of the handle is the eponymous relief of a lion's head. Some blades of the lion head khukuri are decorated, often with the inscription "India".
The lion head khukuri goes back to the time before the Second World War, but most of the pieces are mass-produced for tourists, which differ significantly in quality from the old pieces. But the old lion head khukuris were not used as the official weapon of the Gurkhas either
Typical components
- Karda (small, sharp side knife)
- Chakmak (small sharpening steel)
- Khukuri (kukri)
- Sheath (for both knives and the sharpening steel)
Blade notch
A noticeable feature of a khukuri is the notch ("Cho" or "Kaudi") in the cutting edge directly in front of the handle. It probably serves as a drip nose that is supposed to keep blood or other liquids away from the handle, as a stopper for the sharpening steel (chakmak) and as a parrying notch in close combat. The original purpose is not fully known. It is designed as a Hindu fertility symbol (OM) in the form of a cow's hoof.
See also
literature
- Ron Flook: British and commonwealth military knives. Airlife, Shrewsbury 1999, ISBN 1-85310-986-X .
- National Army Museum : Military gurkha issue kukris. London 1984.
- George Cameron Stone , Donald J. LaRocca: A Glossary of the Construction, Decoration and Use of Arms and Armor: in All Countries and in All Times. Courier Dover Publications, 1999, ISBN 978-0-486-40726-5 . Page 397.
- Björn-Uwe Abels: The Kukri of the Gurkhas from Nepal. In: Waffen- und Costumekunde 2013, Volume 55, Issue 2, pp. 133–152 (with an English summary).
Web links
- Kukris of the British Armed Forces (www.seitengewehr.de) (PDF; 88 kB)
- Pictures of Khukuris at Oriental Arms: [1] , [2] , [3] , [4] , [5] , [6]
Individual evidence
- ↑ Kunwor, VK,: The Gift of a dying Gurkha… Myths vs. Facts of the Lion Head Gurkha . 2015.
- ↑ Khukuri House Handicraft Industry . Official supplier of the British Gurkha Forces. Retrieved September 16, 2015.