Lion head pommels

G

Guy Thomas

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Feb 1, 2000
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Since I am very interested in older khukuri also, I was wondering if someone could fill us in on the history of the lion head pommel that I see on cheap khukuri all of the time. Were they a feature of a real khukuri at some point? Officers models perhaps?

The search feature is still not working so perhaps this has been covered before.

Guy Thomas
 
John Powell will have to answer that one. But if the lion head is cheap cast brass I'd pass on it. If the lion head is hand crafted grab it.
 
Hi Guy, Its me. I recall someone speaking of the lion head pommels and what I recall is that they were from the British influence on kuks, when India, Nepal and half the known world were British colonies. And so I believe you are correct in assuming they were dress kuks in the British military. John will know for sure.
 
BB you are right about everything except Nepal being a British Colony. Nepal has never been occupied by a foreign power and when the British tried they met the first Gorkhas and that pretty much made them decide they really didn't need or want Nepal as a colony and also gave birth to what we call today the Gurkha or more properly the Gorkha soldier.
 
The lion head pommel is a pure Indian trait and came about after independence in 1947. They are stamped or molded and as far as I can ascertain were never used by any military organizations. There are a very few examples where the head is sculpted and engraved and these are on beautifully made presentation knives or very upscale 'tourist' pieces.

The Indian Military pieces will all have a plain buttcap of brass, metal or silver and secured with a diamond shaped keeper of corresponding metal. They will have metal bands around the one piece grip that also has small circular metal insets that seat pins driven through the tang. These knives shouldn't be dismissed as they are well made and functional.

The Lion's Head knife is usually mediocre if not downright junk. Good news is they are very affordable if someone is just starting a collection.
 
Somewhere, on this or the other forum, Uncle Bill noted that Yangdu saw one of those khukuris and was unable to visualize the King of Beasts when looking at the buttcap. To honor her perception, I always call them pig-head khukuris :D
 
Berk, you have a good memory and no wonder you excel at your position of HI Research Librarian.

I remember it well. Somebody had sent me a lion head pommeled "genuine" khukuri to examine after it had been destroyed in not destructive but simply normal testing. I took the pommel and asked Yangdu what animal was represented on it and she, after a cursory exam, replied, "a pig."

For some reason that struck me as being very funny and still does.
 
That's not the end of the story either:

I believe Uncle Bill was the one impressed with the notion of a carved animal head, but not with the lion, which was a British symbol and not at all Nepali.

My memory gets a little cloudy, since I wasn't there, but I think Bill mentioned the idea to Kami Sherpa, who arranged for the carving of the wood by ( was it the Newari-? ) whomever. If I recall correctly, ( and if Uncle tells the same story the same way twice in a row... I'm just teasing the old gentleman ) the first of the snow leopard, dragons, etc., turned out to be the Hanuman, because of his epic bravery and loyalty or something or other.

Anyway, the Hanuman that arrived at my door was promptly opened and unwrapped and to my delight, Bill or whomever had wrapped it in the Reno paper's article about an annual swinger's convention going on at one of the hotels that week. :D :D It's the truth! My Hanuman was up to monkey business from the very git-go!:p ROTFLMAO
 
That is the story I was thinking of. I'll have to write my own version of world history. The mind is a terrible thing to waste ( unless its wasted already). And thanks to John for giving us an accurate history lesson, as opposed to my fratured fairy tale version. DARN, I really thought I had this one right.
 
Uncle will have to straighten the details of my story out.

My story might not be "accurate", but it is pretty "true", if you follow my meaning.
 
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