How do I contact Rober Hales? I'd like to see if he would be willing to share his info from Timonium on pihakaetta.com.
When thinking about pihakaettas a distinction needs to be made between those made by the "Four Workshops" and those made elsewhere. The four workshops were craftsmen employed by the king and it is nearly certain that all of those produced would have been for nobles, chiefs, or important people.
There is a reference in a hard copy of an old anthropological society article that I will have to dig up that indicates some pihas were used for fighting. We can probably assume that these would have been the less ornate examples. But this is the only mention I have found and I would challenge anyone to produce more info on this. I would love to see it!
Again (I've noted this before), piha and kaetta are two completely different terms in Sinhalese and they don't call the ornate knives by this term. They simply call them pihiya. Da kaetta is a work knife, a totally different form.
Bill, a very good example. The sheath is in great shape and that's tough to find.
-d
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