The Sinhalese Kastane: Its Development, Decoration and Symbolism

[Maurice]

Originally Posted by Jim McDougall

Some of the aspects of the well known kastane which have been brought to discussion have been
1. Just how old is the zoomorphically featured hilt, and what creatures are represented on its basic forms. While most references typically list the pommel as having a lionhead , which seems to correspond to the name of the people on this island, as well as the island itself (sinha=lion), Sinhala and Sinhalese....there are apparently some variations of the hilt.

Hi Jim,

This is way out of my field, but looking for something relevant in the other VOC blades thread, I found two very interesting kastanes.
Most of you probably know of them, but in case not I will add the pictures.

They were captured with a piha kaetta and a canon in 1765 by the Dutch, at the conquest of the Kandy's king palace.

PS. I've also added an image of the canon and the piha kaetta.