View Single Post
Old 11th February 2014, 10:10 AM   #22
Ibrahiim al Balooshi
Member
 
Ibrahiim al Balooshi's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Buraimi Oman, on the border with the UAE
Posts: 4,408
Default

Salaams Jim,
Thank you for your post and superb references putting some considerable meat on the bones of my previous notes. I delight in seeing your last paragraph noting the stylistic nature of the pommel in certain cases and underlining the great reverance applied to such iconic features whether Lion or Makara. Were the key concepts simply artistic impression and customer requirements? The Kandyan Kingdom, of course, never succumbed to Portuguese agression so it is difficult to imagine how they could have been involved in its design. One viable situation could be that the Moors having fetched various swords into the country and transmited the essentials of design to the Royal Workshops prior to the Portuguese influx; In that way it seems plausible that a Royal or VIP dagger sword could have found universal Sri Lankan favour..It seems that an essential European sword framework to which great embelishment was then added could carry the formula? A Sri Lankan Kastane (Kasthane) resplendent with embelishment and religious symbolism...perhaps built around a European basic form.

For interest below ~ Portrait of King Rajasingha II of Kandy (1608-1687) (Reign 1635 – 6 December 1687)
Regards,
Ibrahiim al Balooshi.
Attached Images
  

Last edited by Ibrahiim al Balooshi; 11th February 2014 at 06:12 PM.
Ibrahiim al Balooshi is offline   Reply With Quote