Kukri
is the now accepted spelling; “Khukuri”
is the strict translation of the Nepali word. Either
way khukuri (kukri) itself is the renowned national
weapon of Nepal and the Gurkhas, the Gurkha Knife.
A Nepali boy is likely to have his
own khukuri (kukri) at the age of five or so and necessarily
becomes skilful in its use long before his manhood.
By the time a Gurkha joins the army, the Khukuri (kukri)
has become a chopping extension of his dominant arm.
This is important, because it is not the weight and
edge of the weapon that make it so terrible at close
quarters so much as the skilled technique of the stroke;
it can claim to be almost impossible to parry.
It is important to remember that
the Khukuri (kukri) is a tool of all work, at home
in the hills and on active service it will be used
for cutting wood, hunting and skinning, opening tins,
clearing undergrowth and any other chore. From this
it is plain there can be no truth in the belief that
a Gurkha must draw blood every time before he may
return the kukri to its sheath.
The oldest known Khukuri (Kukri)
appears to be one in the arsenal museum in Kathmandu,
which belonged to Raja Drabya Shah, King of Gorkha,
in 1627. It is interesting to note that it is a broad,
heavy blade. However it is certain that the origins
of the Khukuri (kukri) go far further back. There
is one tenable story that Alexander’s horsemen
carried the “Machaira”, the cavalry sword
of the ancient Macedonians, in the fourth century
BC on his invasion of north-west India. Its relationship
with the kukri is plain. A third century sculpture,
of which only a much later Greek copy exists, shows
what is probably a Scythian prisoner of war lying
down his arms. The weapon looks amazingly like a modern
Khukuri (kukri).
In 1767 Prithwi Naraayan Shah, King
of Gorkha, invaded the Nepal valley: In September
1768 Kathmandu surrendered and Prithwi Narayan became
the first King of Nepal. That his troops defeated
much larger forces must be credited at least in part
to their unusual weapon, the khukuri (kukri). It is
reasonable to suppose that this was the beginning
of the universal custom of Nepalese troops carrying
the khukuri (kukri), a custom that spread in time
to Gurkhas serving in the British and Indian Armies.
It was carried also by many other hill units, regular
and irregular: Assam Rifle Regiments, Burma Military
Police, the Garhwal and Kumaon Regiments. In the Burma
campaign of World War those British troops who did
not carry a machete carried a khukuri (kukri), and
nowadays the Singapore Police Force also carry them.
Most hill villages in earlier days
would have a Smith (or Lohar of the Kami clan) who
forged khukuri (kukris) for the people: now there
is a good deal of mass production, though the best
are still made by skilled craftsmen. In World War
II Gurkha recruits were issued with mass-produced
government kukris but nearly all brought back their
own from their first leave. Weight, balance and fit
are crucially important.
The blades of ordinary kukris vary
much in quality. Many are made perforce from inferior
steel and cannot hold a sharp edge: Good ones are
forged from railway track and old motor vehicle springs.
The best are forged from the finest continental steel
and can be of the highest quality, fluted and damascened.
The scabbards are made of wood covered in leather
with a protective metal cap over the point. Two pockets
on the back holding a blunt steel for sharpening the
blade or striking sparks from flint (the chakmak)
and a little knife (the karda) used for skinning small
game or as a penknife, some also have a little purse
for the flint.
Most handles are made of wood, often
walnut or pat-pate (talauma hodgsoni). They are secured
to the handle either by rivets through a two-piece
hilt or by the tang inserted through a one-piece grip
and riveted over the cap. In a good example the scabbard
(dap) may be adorned with cloth-work or engraving
and the hilt made of bone, ivory, horn or metal probably
decorated.
Village working Khukuri (kukris)
are much coarser affairs, often with heavy wooden
scabbards and comparatively clumsy blades.Piuthan
in the west and Bhojpur in the east are well known
cnetres of Khukuri (kukri) manufacture: Choosing examples
from east to west and from the 18th Century onwards,
we can see many styles and several types. The long,
slender blade is characteristic of early work and
of eastern Nepal; the shorter, round-bellied weapons
are common later and in western districts: but there
are exceptions to this rule.
There is no specific set of dimensions,
but the standard length of service and general use
kukris is twelve or thirteen inches. A Kothimora kukri
may be any reasonable size though many of the best
are service length. The most impressive are the ceremonial
and sacrificial blades. They must be capable of cutting
cleaning through the powerful neck of a water buffalo.
They tend to be twice the length and weight of a soldier’s
kukri with the hilt to fit a two-handed grip.
One interesting curiosity is the
‘kukri-bayonet’ for the old tower musket.
There is a drawing in Perceval London’s book
“Nepal”, Volume 1 page 96, of a Nepalese
Guard of Honour (of between 1813 & 1837) at the
present, muskets complete with kukri-bayonets: But
each soldier had his own fighting kukri in his belt.
So clumsy a weapon must have been for ceremonial purposes
only.
The notch (kaura) in the blade near
the hilt arouses much interest. Although it may certainly
act as a check to excessive blood on the hilt, and
be used to catch and neutralise an enemy blade, it
is essentially a Hindu religious and phallic symbol.
There is a strong analogy with the hand-guard of the
crusader sword, which protected the sword-hand but
equally represented the Christian cross and was commonly
used as the guarantee of an oath- the right hand being
placed on the cross with such words as “by these
hilts”. Reference will later be made to myths
but it is suitable to say here that the “Kaura”
or notch is not an ingenious sight with which to aim
an about to be thrown kukri. Except in desperation,
as a man might hurl his empty rifles in a last defiance
at the enemy; a khukuri (kukri) is never thrown: the
Gurkha prefers to keep it in his hand.
The religious significance of the
kukri must not be forgotten. In 1948 Maharaja Padma
Shamser Jangbahadur Rana, Prime Minister and Supreme
Commander of Nepal, wrote, “The Khukuri (khkri)
is the national as well as the religious weapon of
the Gurkhas. It is incumbent on a Gurkha to carry
it while awake and to place it under the pillow when
retiring. As a religious weapon it is worshipped during
the Dashain (the most important Hindu festival) and
other times whenever any sacrifice is to be made.
In the Army Dashain is of the greatest
importance: During it the regiment’s arms are
blessed, and goats and buffaloes are sacrificed in
the process – not now in this country. At home
in Nepal goats dedicated to various causes are despatched
and then proved and chosen experts ceremonially sacrifice
a male buffalo in the name of the regiment. The large
kukri “Konra” (in the village) is used
because the head must be cleanly severed with one
blow. When that is achieved, which is nearly always,
the blessing of the gods lies on the people for the
ensuing year. If the stroke fails, leaving even so
little as an inch of the dewlap uncut, bad luck will
follow. It is custom the custom to honour the successful
headsman with a “Pheta” (white turban)
bound round his forehead, an honour much valued.
Associated Myths & Legends
The khukuri (kukri) has somehow
produced a fertile crop of myths and legends in the
western world; and the most impossibly wild amongst
them are the most tenaciously believed. Two already
mentioned are that a khukuri (kukri) once drawn in
whatever circumstances must taste blood before it
is resheathed. Also that a Gurkha, if he possibly
can, will take careful aim through the symbolic “kaura”
or notch and then hurl the weapon like a boomerang,
snick off the enemy’s head and casually snatch
the kukri out of the air as it returns. If the first
of these were true no Gurkha would survive to adulthood:
He would lose pints of blood every day as he chopped
wood, sharpened a wooden peg, opened a tin of beans
and slashed down encroaching undergrowth. After each
task he would have to shed some of his own blood.
The second fails to stand the test of a little thought.
Much as anyone would hate to be in the path of a flung
khukuri (kukri), one would hate much more to oppose
one in the hand of an angry Gurkha.
Not very different is the story
(set variously in China, Italy, Burma and the North
West Frontier) of the Gurkha coming suddenly on the
enemy soldier. Naturally he struck first – the
decapitating blow. “Yah, missed!” said
the enemy. “Try shaking your head,” came
the reply.
Finally a true story told by General
Sir (later Field Marshal Viscount) W J Slim.
“Early in his command of 14th
Army he encouraged constant patrolling by all forward
units. One Gurkha patrol on return presented themselves
before their General, proudly opened a large basket,
lifted from it three gory Japanese heads, and laid
them on his table. They then politely offered him
for his dinner the freshly caught fish which filled
the rest of the basket.”
Nepal, the Gurkha, and the khukuri
(Kukri): The three of them are inseparable in reputation,
and the Gurkha Soldier keeps his kukri as he keeps
his honour – bright and keen. kukri,
kukri, kukri, kukri, kukri, kukri, kukri, kukri, kukri,
kukri, kukri, kukri, kukri, kukri, kukri, kukri, kukri,
kukri, kukri, kukri, kukri, kukri, kukri, kukri, kukri,
kukri, kukri, kukri, kukri, kukri, kukri, kukri, kukri,
kukri, kukri, kukri, kukri, kukri.
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