Thank you so much for posting the example of horns paired together as used by the fakirs and mendicants Montino, indeed very much appreciated.
I realize that these horns mounted with buckler and spike are obviously construed as a weapon, and fabricated in this manner would not have been used by these Holy individuals. The reason I wanted an illustration of the horns mounted this way was to illustrate the wider range of this weapon application.
In looking further, I found a reference ( the title of which I would rather not relay with certain hypersensitivities evidenced by some individuals here of late) written by John George Wood in 1883. The author relates a description of the horns we are discussing as "...a dagger made from the two horns of an Indian antelope. In the simplest form of this curious weapon, the horns are arranged with thier bases crossing each other for about six inches".
Further, "...the curvature of the bases thus furnishes a sort of a handle, which can be grasped in such a way that the holder of the weapon can strike right and left with it, and among a number of people, could do a vast amount of damage in a very short time. A dagger such as has been described could be made in a half an hour and, indeed a temporary weapon might be made in a few minutes by lashing the horns together".
Clearly, such a weapon would serve its purpose well in the crowded streets of cities where the volatility and mayhem potential was constantly heightened by such crowding, and religious mendicants might suddenly be targeted by conflicts against them.
These ascetics and mendicants seem to have been prevalent not only in the major religions, but in varying factions and even associated cults, so it would be difficult to find specific references to doctrine or dogma concerning use of weapons, but it does seem generally well understood in the prohibition.
All very best regards,
Jim
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