Palm Leaf Manuscript Foldable Stylus Knife

[olaicollector]

Originally Posted by JamesKelly

I see there is writing on my knife. Cleaned the steel just a bit, with bronze wool and Johnson's Paste Wax (I did not want to get oil onto the ivory). It has a decorative silver strip inlaid on the back of both blades.

Ram, can you tell me if this is from mainland India, Sri Lanka, or somewhere else? Any chance the writing is legible? Part is scratched in, the second half looks like connected punch marks. I tried to make it more legible with a charcoal pencil, not much luck.

WOW! That is one beautiful stylus. I wish mine had some inscription on it. I have looked and looked, but couldn't find one. Most of these type of styluses with inscriptions on them were targeted for upper class scribes as the cost was much higher, especially with ivory handles. Interpreting the inscription took a while as some of the characters are different from the ones used today. I would date it to somewhere around the late 1800s to early 1900s based on the script used. Here is what it looks using today's characters:

உறுசெ முரு

It basically translates to "uruce muru". Since the inscription seems to be different between the two words, I think the last part was added later. A name perhaps? Not familiar with it at all. I asked the Mrs (she grew up in India and studied there, whereas I am totally American) and she wasn't familiar with the inscription either.

These types of styluses were used in India and Sri Lanka, so it is difficult to pinpoint its exact origin. But the script is Tamil nonetheless.

Cheers & Great Find,

Ram