My trip to Aranyik, Ayuthaya. Na-Noi 's forge.
 

Last Friday, I went to Aranyik, Ayuthaya. Aranyik use to be the biggest tools/knives/Dahb making place in Siam. Today, the business fade down 'coz they couldn't compete with cheaper mass produced SS knives business.

Today, you can count forge smiths in Aranyik with only one hand. I know just only a few smiths in this village.

Today, I visit Na-Noi. He still working with agri-tools and custom blades. I asked him for whatever he has right now.

Here 's some blades he made. They were custom ordered by Lung-Or, one of my forum-pal. The blades were made a little more than ordered amount. So, a couple of each design were left with Na-Noi.

The first one is Meed-Kochabal. Usualy used by old-time elephant's carer. Basically, a utility/ritual knife. I think, the blade was a reproduction of this.

http://www.thailandmuseum.com/chang_...ages/p0195.jpg

The next styles are Meed-Hnep. Household utility knives. There styles are depend on smiths and region. Here are the style of Ayuthaya/Central Thailand 's knives. These styles can be found as early as late Ayuthaya period (17th-18th Cent.)

I was surprised that Lung-Or also ordered some pole weapons/tools. Here are Meed-Prah (literally means utility hacking knife). The design 's a little better than ordinary tools. It 's quite obvious that the knives were made for weapon/display purpose.

The last one is Vachara, a Hindi weapon. It was ordered by another cusomer for his ritual/display purpose.

Bad news is, there is only one rattan braider left here. Next generation knives from Aranyik may come without rattan braids. And they are likely to be cut and grind blades with plain rounded wood hilt. :(

This Vachara is interesting. I've never heard of it or seen one in any Indian books. Is it native to Thailand or neighbouring countries or was it brought from India? Any documentation?
Must be ritual; the cluster of the overlapping blades would be too awkward for battle use; and Thai weapons, if anything, are models of clean functionality.

PUFF:

Looks like this older one is related to one of the meed prah you show above.

Ian.

http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/attach...tid=3259&stc=1

That's very beautiful weapons/tools! I've seen a lot of the hindi weapons in paintings and drawings in books and temples in Thailand. Now, I wished I had one!

The weapon Vachara 's equivalent to Vajra in Sanskrit. It 's the weapon of Indra, a Vedic 's god. And it 's later adopt to Tibetan 's Dorje, a [Tibetan] buddhist symbol of indestructable. :D

http://www.hindunet.org/saraswati/vajra_small.jpg