Kai, I will try to get a set of additional images of the sword with the permission of the owner. Hilt as you say is horn and guards all of steel with brass inlay work. There are many swords surviving specially in Buddhist and Hindu temples that are said to be weapons gifted by King Rajasinghe I post to war victories. very few of these are Kasthana, with most being captured Portuguese swords. But this may indicate the possibility of a piece surviving under protected conditions.
Thank you Balooshi for the complements.
Fernando, Great to see these guns; though there are many examples of the “Bondikula” type guns around (the last one in your collection) I have not seen any similar to the two earlier pieces. curiously the ornamentation of these does not entirely follow Sinhala traditional motifs… even the scroll work on the Makara head on the lock etc seem to be a little away from the usual form. Hope you could let know where this collection is from.
There are text references to Fire or gun powder weapons in use 1-2 centuries prior to the arrival of the Portuguese in Sri Lanka. The form of the weapon is not known and may indicate a rocket type weapon instead of a gun. In the text “Kandauru siritha” (Order of the Camp) there is a reference to a battle which commences by the simultaneous firing of 400 “Wedi” meaning Gunfire/Artillery or any weapon using Gun powder.
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