How old is the kora, as a type?

Jens Nordlunde · 3rd September 2005, 01:59 PM

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’.

3rd September 2005, 01:59 PM	#7
Jens Nordlunde Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Europe Posts: 2,718	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’. Last edited by Jens Nordlunde; 3rd September 2005 at 02:40 PM.