Quote:
|
Originally Posted by drac2k
Thank you very,very much for the translation ! Could I ask why a functional piece such as this sword/tool was offered to a temple rather than money or jewelry, especially since this is not a very ornate piece as some of them are.
Also once given to a temple, how do you think it came to the United States?
Was the place it was housed abandoned or destroyed ?
|
Good question. Temples, Churches, Mosques and other religious places in India receive donations not only in cash but also functional items like cooking vessels (if the place has a communal kitchen), textiles, furniture, etc. This has been the practise since a very long time.
So our man Ayyappan donated the knife to the temple which would have used it as a tool for some purpose. Remember Malabar knives are all cross functional, usable as a weapon or at work.
Most place of worship/religious trusts empty their inventory after every few years, decades or even a century. Items are usually sold through auction and the money goes back to the temple. The item may have been auctioned off most probably some time in it's history. Some are of course pilfered and come out of the temple but knowing how things work with religious trusts in Kerala, I think the former may have been the case.