A rangefinder for throwing the blade: An extension on a myth that these blades were thrown and came back like boomerangs. So stupid and so funny that I had to start the list with it. These blades do not return when thrown, weren't commonly thrown historically and none of the cho shapes help act as a rangefinder regardless.
Cho as Bottle opener: Bottles with caps like that weren't around for the first 200 years or so that the cho was around and neither historical or modern blades can be used to open bottles with any degree of success. The only exception to this is the Scourge khukuri and a few of it's variants by kailash blades, which is specifically designed for this purpose. I have also seen a modern khukuri that used the cho as a spanner for hex nuts. Strange, impractical but at least interesting.
To save material: Good Steel was very scarce in Nepal up until the 21st century so this has a kernel of truth. unfortunately though these shapes were made by removing material with files etc rather than through forging and deformation meaning it actually costs just as much material as just leaving the blade plain. Some chitlange had their kaudi hot punched out but these are a relatively recent pattern compared to the total history of this design feature.
Cho as a blood drip to keep hand dry: A sensible enough functional argument but sadly they just don't perform this function. A blood covered khukuri still runs blood down the spine and flats and doesn't stop your getting a slippery grip.
Cho as blood let for piercing the finger/Ritual human blood offering zone: A super popular one that's total bullshit. This feeds into a super common and damaging myth that every time a khukuri is drawn it has to taste blood, so users would cut themselves as an offering if they didn't cut an enemy. This is a stupid thing to do to yourself during wartime, let along in the survival/ daily situations where these blades are being used as woodworking/butchering tools. This is particularly damaging because it's so widely held a belief and feeds back into Nepali culture with many there even perpetuating it.
This falsehood aside no cho of any design is made sharp enough to draw blood by pricking a thumb or some similar. The suggestion that the cho is a sacred symbol and a place to offer blood to has the strongest basis so far and is something that we'll expand on, but the suggestion that it is for human blood is nonsense.
Cho as a blade catch in combat: There are many examples of cho designs that don't ahve the required shape to fit this purpose. Could a cho catch the edge of the blade enough to manipulate the trajectory of it? Maybe, yeah. If this was the intent though I tend to think an answer this simple would have been able to last through time, been evident in accounts of historical khukuri technique or be more evident in the cho design through a more specialised and effective design. The suggestion that a cho could catch and snap a blade is rubbish though. A pronged cho will break or bend long before the opponent's blade will and again there is nothing to support this claim
Cho as a finger guard to stop sliding onto the blade: Again there are many cho designs which won't do this, notably that of the chitlange. However the earliest khukuris, the hanshee had both a much smaller prong and a much larger and shallower notch that would work pretty well for this function. Could it be that it was originally intended for this function and then drifted away from being functional over time to all these new designs? Maybe but again not very likely. While many kaudi designs can help you to stop sliding forward, the handle rings seen on correctly sized and replicated traditional blades would already cover this function. They slid between the middle and ring fingers and acted as a subhilt as sorts. I think this is a case of most khukuri users disregarding and avoiding these handle rings, imposing that a fighting blade needs a frontal guard and then concluding that this strange feature must be for this purpose. The most solid thus far but still not solid enough.
Cho as a religious, auspicious or sacred symbol: Of all the explanations this explanation has the most supporting evidence and is in the opinion of many researchers the most likely.
Within Nepali culture the inclusion of religious symbols or ornamentation to imbue power or significance is commonplace be it on doorknobs, cooking equipment or the many coloured and decorated trucks you see on the streets there. Even within the west this isn't a foreign concept. A sword with engraving helps to show wealth and communicate a form of power. A pommel might incorporate traditional celtic knotwork or similar motifs for much the same reason- it makes a blade more significant.
Many direct interpretations of the shape of a cho focus strongly on the contemporary shape that's seen so commonly. These include:
A cow's hoof/udder- Cows are sacred and a sign of wealth within hinduism, so it checks out. An alternative is that it's a buffalo's hoof in reference to the sacrifice of these animals during dashain etc. While this is a valid connection, the kind of khukuris used for these sacrifices are specialised and very large. This to filter back across to military and agricultural khukuris is unlikely.
Yoni/Lingam- For those unfamiliar a yoni is a hindu symbol representing a vagina, while a lingam represents that of a penis. Within hinduism these are powerful associations to make. A yoni has the power to create life while a lingam is seen as a powerful and sacred object. These are often carved of stone and can be found throughout hindu influenced asia.
While these are sound reasons, they do not cover any of the variants or the older common designs which just don't match these shapes. One example of a variant that does have a sound representaion explanation is that of the pagoda/temple cho on a fort william MK1 and other blades. As the name would imply, this shape echoes the rooves of a nepali temple and is a shape that is also seen in the pommels of other weapons such as the Kora. IT's worth noting that nepali kora, ram dao or Tulwar do not feature a cho. Why it's seen as so important to include this ornamentation on a khukuri rather than these blades is unclear, but I think it simply comes down to tradition. Old khukuris were made like this, so new khukuris are too. Cho creep (the movement of the cho further away from the handle) is seen as a sign of a khukuri being inauthentic by many collectors nowadays as it's a sign of drifting from tradition. They seek less cho creep as a sign of quality in modern blades despite little to no functional benefit. This has arisen organically but could potentially parallel the original mindset that allowed this feature to perpetuate throughout the centuries.
I think this is a very important point as it represents is something very particular to Nepalese society. It's an example of a tradition for traditions sake. Nepal is a very Dogmatic society and traditions, ancestors and that which has come before is valued very highly. If you were to ask a villager why the fireplace in their house has no Chimney, they would say that it's because that's how fireplaces are made. Sure it might make their room smokey, but that's how these things have always been made and respecting that offers a sense of security and Identity. I think even discarding the potential religious origins, this significance is one that rings the most true and holds the most relevancy to this day. An example of tradition that under its own steam which has been maintained by generations of blacksmiths for hundreds of years.
