Thanks guys for the responses so far. The background I was holding a bit pending some discussion was the oral provenance of this item. The person I picked this up from stated he purchased this belt, along with a few other items I ended up with, from a Tibetan monestary. It does not follow any known example of Tibetan belt work and I tend to agree with the suggestion it could be from surrounding regions. I think India is a real possibility. In the book Tibetan arms and armour you see Tibetan monestaries with many tulwars mounted on the walls. Certainly they have picked up over the centuries many arms from neighboring countries. The fact it was found in Tibet in the 1970's adds to the story a bit but one can certainly understand how it ended up there.
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