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Originally Posted by Marcus
Looking at examples previously sold on Oriental arms 3 out of 6 have an elephant on the back side of the spike. This piece has a peg that looks as though there was once something there. The seller made reference to a missing elephant. I have a friend who might cast me a replacement. I look forward to receiving the item in a few days. I suspect the vendor would have checked for a dagger. I can confirm that.
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Good note Marcus, and in reviewing a number of these zaghnal, I did notice that many did have an elephant at the base, so I see what you mean.
What is curious is that the bhuj, which is like a dagger with an extremely long handle becoming a haft, these invariably have the elephant head at the junction of blade and haft. This led to the vernacular term 'elephant knife' used for them.
It begs the question of the relationship between these hafted weapons and more on the significance of the elephant symbolically.