Interpreting Spine Inscription on Nepalese Long Leaf

[Murindo]

I bought a typical Nepalese Long Leaf from IMA .

There is a single character stamped on the butt. The blade is in good shape and still sharp. Does have a lot of scratches on blade.

Can anyone translate the spine inscription for me?

 

[George Azar]

I’ll see if I can locate Amko to translate for you.

 

[Murindo]

Thank you George!

 

[George Azar]

I just sent him an email and am sure he will respond ASAP!
Glad to help. That has me curious as well.
Merry Christmas.

 

[Amko]

"Surjay 4128 Shri Om Chandra", suraj means "sun", Om the primeval sound of the universe and Chandra is "moon".
There was a similar khuk that ndog interpreted, he will probably chip in with its historical significance.

 

[Murindo]

Thank you!

 

[Berkley]

“For years the exact meaning of these inscriptions eluded collectors and perplexed linguists who were repeatedly asked to translate them. Only in the last few years have we gotten a good idea of what they actually say. The first part of the riddle to be cracked was the introductory prefix. Collectors figured out that this prefix never changed and a rough translation of it came out to be “Thrice Honored Chandra” or “Three Shrii Chandra,” a reference to Prime Minister Chandra Shamsher Jang Bahadur Rana who ruled Nepal from 1901-1929. It was also clear that all of the inscriptions ended with a series of numbers, but their interpretation was unknown. The real problem lay between the honorifics and the numbers. A set of two or three different letters (that made little or no sense when strung together as a word) was usually placed between the other elements.I am also interested in antique military rifles and I discovered something quite helpful while reviewing a book by John Walter on the rifles found in the Royal Nepalese Armory (Guns of the Gurkhas: The lost arsenal: pistols, rifles and machine- guns of the Royal Nepalese Army, 1816-1945. Tharston Press, 2005). Many of the rifles photographed for this book featured inscriptions that were structurally similar to those seen on the kukris. The inscribed elements on these rifles were generally “vertically stacked” rather than horizontally written, but when you broke it down the basic components were exactly the same in both cases. Walter identified the two letter combinations as an abbreviation (rather than a word) that denoted a specific unit in the Royal Nepalese Army. The numbers that followed corresponded to sub-units. Walter was also kind enough to include a list of common abbreviations in an appendix.” [URL='http://Identifying and Collecting the Nepalese Military Kukri.']Identifying and Collecting the Nepalese Military Kukri.[/url]

With help from Benjamin Judkins, the author of that article, and John Walter’s book, I think your inscription means:

Surjadal (Suryadal) Company [Royal Nepalese Army - unit raised 1815] (Platoon)4,( soldier or rack number)28 (Inventory of) Sri 3 (Prime Minister) Chandra (Shamsher Jang Bahadur Rana)

 

[Murindo]

Thank you very much!

 

[davidf99]

Thanks, Berkley.

This information is useful in dating some of the blades. Any khukuri bearing the “Thrice Honored Chandra” prefix on the spine is probably no older than 1901. Unless Chandra Shamsher Jang Bahadur Rana was thrice honored even before he became Prime Minister. In any case, 28 years is a long time to rule any country, especially a time period that included the second world war. I'm assuming that the British had already enlisted units of Ghurkas by then, so Nepalese would have been fighting in the war. I don't know whether Nepal as a whole was much affected by that war.

 

[ndoghouse]

Most everything I know about these blades was derived from Berkleys references as stated above. What I can add from personal samples I have owned is that some of these Khuks seem to be recommissioned to later battalions at a later time. Some appear to have parts of the inscriptions "filed" off and re-engraved to a later regiment so in this case the knife may have been older than the inscription designates or at least passed on to a subsequent regiment. Note between the yellow lines the transverse file marks and remnant markings (red) from before.

Yours doesnt appear to show the markings of one of those.