A very loose rule of thumb for kukri knives made before the mid 1800s was that the long thin bladed hanshees which evolved into the sirupati (seerpat) came from western Nepal while the more robust and deeper bellied budhumes (later called bhojpure) came from the east (fig. 1A & 1B) and the two met in the Kathmandu Valley, further confusing the issue (editors note: It is important to bear in mind that JP´s findings were based on his research some 20 years ago and should be taken with a grain of salt as newer research has shown several ideas to be faulty. For example the east/west has been dismissed.The Bhojpure (from a town (Bhojpur) in the mid hills of eastern Nepal) is one of several styles within the larger Budhume group (a term which is a based on a broad bellied fish spieces). The many tribes can be attributed to these weapons such as Limbus and Rais make only the deeper bladed Bhojpure, the Gurungs, Tamangs and Chhetris make the seerpat and the Newars are the artisans who are responsible for many of the finely carved wooden scabbards, intricate decoration and engraved blades. If it were only as simple as this sentence makes it sound. There are just too many variations to neatly pigeon hole the kukris that have been made in Nepal since at least the 16th century and in India before that. Maybe not in the style we are used to seeing as today's profile, but still were kukris designed with the basics of a wooden ridged grip attached to a distinctly curved blade with the edge being on the inside of that curve.

The first impression of these kukris is just how hard they have been worked, repaired and used for years for everything from chopping branches to digging ditches to despatching enemies. The differences of blade, grip and scabbard offer many clues as to where and what these kukris were used for and from whence they came.

important Hindu god), a cow's hoof or the sexual organs of a multitude of gods. Take your pick, as no one has ever come up with an agreed to answer, but if you ask a Nepalese he will tell you, "It's a kukri, so it has a cho".

The tangs of some kukris extend completely through the grip and are peened over at the butt covered with a steel pommel plate and a diamond shaped keeper called a hira jornu (editors note: diamond joined/attached/together) that is a traditional Nepalese design feature (fig. 3). The bolster is made of steel, the scabbard is of goat skin dyed black with designs tooled in while the skin was wet and stretched over the wooden frame. The strap that encircles the scabbard has 2 buttons that are attached to a small strengthened piece of leather or tendon through a cut in the leather to keep everything from shifting (fig. 4). This system kept the knife from slipping through the sash where it was kept at the front of the body (fig. 5). At the back of the scabbard there is a pair of miniature scabbards to hold the karda and the chakmak and attached to these is a pocket (goji or kalti) to hold a pouch containing tinder and maybe a small piece of flint.

Attached to the pouch is a decorative detail of leather (fig. 6) to assist in its removal. Around the top of this pocket is a woven piece of dyed leather that may be just a sarki (leather worker) showing off his skill or put there for reinforcement. He has also matched that little detail on the strap with 2 very small bits of red leather that serve no purpose other than design. The pouch and the back of the scabbard also show signs of embossing and the stitch that runs the entire length on the back is well made and very secure (see further examples in Chapter H).