Pihiya Kaetta - any ideas about age?
 

Hello,

I recently acquired this Pihiya Kaetta style knife at ebay.
Or at least I think it is a kind of Pihiya.
The handle reminds me of the Serapendiya hilted Pihiyas altough the handle is made of cast brass.
It is looks like a working type of knife than the commonly found highly decorated Pihiyas.
Do You have any ideas if this could be a predecessor of or a working Pihiya contemporary to the highly decorated Pihiya Kaetta?
Here ist the link to the knife (ebay No.: 390058685768):

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...fvi%3D1&_rdc=1

Best regards, Helge

A nice old piece
 

A nice old piece, I saw this pass through an auction house recently and it didn't take long to reach eBay.
I certainly is an old and nice piece.
The hilt is of Garuda, king of birds, ruler of the sky, and personification of power. I liked the piece and if I didn't have other commitments at this point in time I might have run it up a little higher.
If you have a copy of Hindu arms and ritual, page 38 shows one similar with an ivory hilt, Elgood notes the same style blade as being European.

A good buy.

Gav

Interesting old blade. I see why you think it might be related to the piha Kaetta, but i am not convinced it is one.
Gav, you seem pretty sure the hilt depicts Garuda. Why is that? :shrug:

My first thoughts
 

My first thoughts were a Sphinx like beast then I searched a little further with Hindu Dieties becasue I knew the collection that this piece came from(mostly Southern Indian and pieces from Sri Lanka), I then remembered Elgoods book with the same profiled Eurpean blade, referred to his text noting Garuda hilt (I had a hard time seeing Garuda in his image presented). Then back to the Ebay link and the wings nestled over its chest convinced me, then off to good old Google images and trawled through there and there are heaps to choose from that are consistant, follow the trail and let me know what you think ;-)

Gav

Well, i don't have Elgood's book, but i did look over a lot of Google images under "garuda" and didn't really find anything that looks like this. I see what you think are wings and i suppose they might well be, but i don't really see anything else that is bird-like about this figure. :shrug:

Don't look too hard
 

G'day David,

I wouldn't look too hard for a Garuda exactly like the one presented.
Below are but a few of the hundreds of different representations of Garuda.
:shrug: I am always open to other suggestions.

Gav

The item in question, for future reference... :)

If you go to this link.

http://www.vikingsword.com/ubb/Forum1/HTML/000498.html

their are 3 somewhat similar birds on Piha Kaetta further down the thread.

Best,
Jerry
Maskell

Nice
 

Your a treasure!!!

Well noted.

Gav

Another reference
 

Just thought to pop in again with another reference about the Garuda; page 64 of Asiatic Mythology by J.Hackin and others, I quote;

"In India the Garuda gradually assumed a human shape, retaining nothing of the bird of prey but the wings and the beak turned into a hooked nose"

Gav

Well done Gav!!! In interpreting the symbolism and motif on weapons, it really is important to try to consider the perception of those fashioning and using them. I guess this is why the references focused on the typology serve mostly as a benchmark, while delving further into the weapon and the symbolism present it is necessary to rely on references that deal more with the cultures and thier art, religion and superstitions.

All the best,
Jim

Hello and thank You all for Your comments.
Of course You are right, it is a Garuda hilt.
Seems as if I did not read Coomaraswamy's Medieval Sinhalese Art well enough.

Maskell, thank You for the link.
Actually this threat is one of the sources why I believe this knife to be related to the Piha Kaetta.
Here is another threat to this toppic depicting Pihas with Garuda hilts.

http://www.vikingsword.com/ubb/Forum1/HTML/001998.html

Best regards, Helge

Very nice piece of rarer form. Looking over Maskell's thread, I was reminded of Sri Lanka's other figural hilted weapon, the kastane. This garuda interpretation seems to resemble a cross between the more typical form and the dragonlike kastane hilt? :shrug: