Ethnographic Arms & Armour - View Single Post - Incomplete India Kukri for Translation and Comment

RobT · 7th July 2020, 01:43 AM

Hi All,

As bhushan_lawate noted, the inscription is upside down. The inscription is in two parts. One part is military info and the other part is a phrase of praise. The translation I propose for the military info is in part based on the book Guns of the Gurkhas by John Walter (hopefully I am interpreting his work correctly). The phrase of praise was translated by Dr Ben Judkins in his article about collecting the Nepalese military khukri.

The first two characters are an abbreviation for the Surjadal Company. The third character is the unit number (in this case it appears to be 8). The vertical slash isn't a character. It just separates the company and unit info from the weapon number (which in this case appears to be either forty six or forty eight).

The phrase of praise says Shree tin Chandra (thrice honored Chandra). The first character (shree) is an honorific which can mean various things ranging from honorable to beloved to fortunate but in this case probably means honorable. This honorific can be applied to deities, mortals, and organizations alike. I believe that women in general can be called shree (hence the name for the popular TV drama on the subcontinent). The second character (which looks like a three with a tail on it) is tin and it does mean three. As an interesting aside, from what I have read, our so called Arabic numerals 0-9 were actually a Hindu invention. The Moslems picked them up from the Hindus and passed them on to the west. The last two characters chan and dra together form Chandra which is a name for the moon on the subcontinent (and also the name for the god of the moon). Chandra is also a popular name for children of both sexes. In this case, the Chandra in question is Chandra Shumshir Jang Bahadur Rana who was prime minister of Nepal from 1901 to 1929. It was he who ordered the inscriptions be placed on Nepalese military arms.

Sincerely,
RobT

7th July 2020, 01:43 AM	#6
RobT Member Join Date: Mar 2005 Posts: 452	Translation Hi All, As bhushan_lawate noted, the inscription is upside down. The inscription is in two parts. One part is military info and the other part is a phrase of praise. The translation I propose for the military info is in part based on the book Guns of the Gurkhas by John Walter (hopefully I am interpreting his work correctly). The phrase of praise was translated by Dr Ben Judkins in his article about collecting the Nepalese military khukri. The first two characters are an abbreviation for the Surjadal Company. The third character is the unit number (in this case it appears to be 8). The vertical slash isn't a character. It just separates the company and unit info from the weapon number (which in this case appears to be either forty six or forty eight). The phrase of praise says Shree tin Chandra (thrice honored Chandra). The first character (shree) is an honorific which can mean various things ranging from honorable to beloved to fortunate but in this case probably means honorable. This honorific can be applied to deities, mortals, and organizations alike. I believe that women in general can be called shree (hence the name for the popular TV drama on the subcontinent). The second character (which looks like a three with a tail on it) is tin and it does mean three. As an interesting aside, from what I have read, our so called Arabic numerals 0-9 were actually a Hindu invention. The Moslems picked them up from the Hindus and passed them on to the west. The last two characters chan and dra together form Chandra which is a name for the moon on the subcontinent (and also the name for the god of the moon). Chandra is also a popular name for children of both sexes. In this case, the Chandra in question is Chandra Shumshir Jang Bahadur Rana who was prime minister of Nepal from 1901 to 1929. It was he who ordered the inscriptions be placed on Nepalese military arms. Sincerely, RobT