How old is the kora, as a type?

[Jens Nordlunde]

Well, maybe I am too optimistic, or maybe you are too sceptical, anyway I found the writing interesting, and you did avoid the key question – ‘How old is the kora, as a type’?
I know it is a tricky question, as the answer will be, ‘I don’t know’. But the meaning with the question was to try and see, how far back we can trace it. Maybe the sword at the gate is a kora, and maybe someone, with a bit of good will, took it for a kora, but there may be a picture in one of the big libraries in London, which could solve the problem. I did find a page on the net with 671 pictures from the temple, but, the pictures were unfortunately too small.

BTW I would not take the sword shown on the picture you attach for a kora, but I suppose it depends on the eyes looking at the picture. I do however see your point showing the picture.

[B.I]

as you say (and i fully agree) the sword i show may not be a kora-form. but, either way, it conforms to the basic elements inherant in a 18th/19thC piece. in looking for an earlier example (especially when going back 1000 years) we have to allow for severe style changes. so, all we can do is find these base elements and speculate.

[Ian]

I think we need the help of JP for this question. I believe John has studied the kora in considerable detail. If I recall correctly from a previous discussion, John thought the kora was not a very old weapon and it largely disappeared from use in the early to mid-19th C.

Ian.

[Jim McDougall]

I agree that John Powell's expertise is much needed to address this question here as his outstanding knowledge of these weapons is well known. Pending, and hoping for his input, I would like to offer some observations.

It seems that many ethnographic edged weapons have distinct similarities to various early iconography that suggests that thier form may have derived stylistically in degree from these sources. Jens' well placed observation concerning the kora is one of many of these instances. I believe that these atavistic possibilities reflect the distinct traditional awareness of later armourers who may have developed these often relatively recent forms recalling the weapons of their ancestors.

Rawson (p.53) notes the very likely descent of the kora from early forward angled swords from Barabadur and the Begur stone suggesting early medieval date of possibly 9th or 10th c. AD for establishment of these type swords in hill regions of Nepal . In reviewing "Indian Arms & Armour" by Pant, on p. 54-55, he concurs with Rawson on this suggestion.The examples described by Jens may similarly include developmental stages of weapons from which the kora may have derived, clearly of earlier date, and from the Deccan.

I think it is important to note that the Gurkhas, who are of course renowned for thier use of the kukri, also used the kora. The Gurkhas are predominantly descended from early Brahmans and Rajputs from which they maintain ancestry from the Kshatriya warriors of the Hindu Faith. Ethnically speaking they are also of predominantly Mongolian descent.

Much of the Deccan from central to eastern, was a bastion of South Indian Hinduism, fiercely defended by Tamil warriors from the expanding Mughal sphere. These warriors often served as mercenaries throughout the Deccan, so it would seem that weapons diffusion may certainly have moved northward and entered the Nepalese regions.

Rawson, on. p.38, depicts several of the forward curved type swords on p.53 as previously noted, and most noticeably the examples shown as 'Viragal swords,10th c.' suggest possible nominal association to the kora form. Not familiar with the term 'virigal' , I discovered that this term referred to sculptured stones called 'hero stones' and the term is Sanskrit for that description. Apparantly these Tamil monuments are found throughout the Deccan and record the heroism of these Hindu warriors, and many of them reflect depictions of the swords used, as shown in the Rawson reference.

The most distinctive features of these 'virigal' swords that allude to the kora form are the chopper/sickle type blade and especially the divided or bifurcated fishtail tip, which is in essence found on the koras dual concave tip.

I tend to believe that the kora as used by the Gurkha warriors probably developed in the familiar form rather late, and the examples most commonly seen are likely of mid 18th to 19th c. I am not aware of examples that can be confidentally dated into the 17th c. or earlier.

While it seems unclear whether the 10th century swords noted here actually maintained a steadily developing lineage into the kora form, it does seem possible that there may have been some influence iconographically as I have speculated. I do also believe that the kora in its known form probably did develop distinctly as such in Kathmandu regions, as John has maintained. I believe that the kukri supplanted the kora as a combat weapon eventually, and it seems the two have of course similar dynamics. The kora later became more of a ceremonial/sacrificial weapon and I wonder if the blade representing features of those earlier viragal swords may have associated sometime in the 18th century.

It would seem I have rambled this into an epic ! unintentionally as usual...but hope it might generate more thoughts on the development and ancestry of these interesting swords.

John! where are ya?

All best regards,
Jim

[Jens Nordlunde]

Hi Jim, from your mail it is clear, that you have put a lot of time into your answer – thank you.

In Hindu Arms and Ritual, page 252, Robert Elgood writes: “Kora, Nepalese, Bengali and Orissan sword, the blade broadening and curving slightly as it gets further from the hilt. The form is early though most examples date from the eighteenth or nineteenth centuries. Nigam states that it appears in a sculptured panel in the Mukhalingesvara Temple, Mukhalingam, capital of the Eastern Ganga dynasty, second half of the eighth century. Seven examples are in the Royal Danish Kunstkammer inventory of 1674 where they are described as East Indian Sabres. Another in Copenhagen has an Indian hilt and a Danish blade bearing the mark of Christian V.
The kora is generally described by modern writers as Nepalese but appears to be particularly associated with Bengal. A kora in the Kandy Museum, Sri Lanka, is said to be the weapon of the last executioner”.

I have checked the information about the Royal Danish Kunstkammer, and in the book Ethnographic Objects in The Royal Danish Kunstkammer 1650-1800, Copenhagen 1980, it says that in year 1674 they had seven and in year 1689 they had eight ‘Ostindische krumsabler’. The text is on page 107 and two of the koras are shown on page 108. King Christian V (1646-1699). I don’t know if the one with the kings mark has a Danish blade or not, as the book only mentions the items in the collection, the mark could also have been made after the kora arrived in Copenhagen. There is however a chance that the Danes made trade blades, as they had a small trade colony, Tranquebar, on the southeast coast of India.

I have mailed the Danish National Museum to ask if the blade with Christian V’s mark really is Danish made, and to which degree the Danes made trade blades for India – I hope I get an answer.

Quoting Robert I left something out, maybe I should not have, as he writes ‘See Bughalee’. It is also in the glossary, and says, ‘Bughalee. Term used by Fanny Parks in the nineteenth century as synonymous with a korah (kora). See Parkes II, p. 143. Then something about the koras in Denmark, and he ends. The weapon appears to be particularly associated with Bengal’.

[spiral]

Jim, In the Nepali national museam , there are kora of the style we are most familar with, dating to the mid. 16th century. The oldest belonging to Draya Shah the founder of the Gorkha kingdom in around 1560.

I will dig out a photo. {not a brilliant one unfortuanatly.}

Jens I am fascinated about the Danish Kora have you any pictures you can share?

Spiral

[Jens Nordlunde]

Hi Spiral,

So, in Nepal we are back around 1560, with a kora style we are familiar with, I wonder how much further back it can be traced in the Himalayas. I may be difficult, as there were not many travellers in these parts at the times, besides caravans during a few summer months, when the passes were passable.
I must admit, the more I look at the picture posted by BI in post #2, it looks as if it could be a very early type of a kora, straighter than we know them, but then again, that is the way I think the sword must have started – but that is pure guessing on my side.
Earlier I thought that the kora could have been used in Deccan and maybe in Bengal, but now it seems as if it was a common weapon. Only in many books it is not even mentioned, which could mean, that it went out of use, the tulwar and the shamshir types taking over. Meaning the blades of most of the koras were made into tulwar and shamshir blades, as steel was expensive and had to be reused, old blades as well as when the blade tradition changed.
It is funny to think that for a long period of time, the Afghans ruled in Bengal, but the kora cant have appealed to them, or one would have seen it used in Afghanistan.

The only picture I have shows only two of the eight koras. Notice the different tips.