Subject: විදානෙ vidane chief / headman
Culture: Sinhalese
Setting: colonial resistance, Kandy kingdom, Sri Lanka 18th - early 19thc
Object: piha kaetta knife
Leeds City Museum > Collector's Cabinet *
"Dagger and sheath (piha kaetta) Sri Lanka, late 19th/early 20th century Steel and brass, the sheath of wood"
Glenn Erso *
*Royal Armouries Museum > Oriental Gallery
"Dagger (piha kaetta) Sri Lankan, early 19th century This is an unusual piha kaetta, as it has a long, straight ebony hilt. It is also rather well decorated. The ferrule is of silver chiselled with waves and the silver scabbard is decorated with filigree."
"Dagger (piha kaetta) Sri Lankan, early 19th century This is typical of the smaller piha kaetta, with short, curved and carved ebony grip-plates and a silver-inlaid brass ferrule. The scabbard is of wood with a silver throat."
"Dagger (piha kaetta) Sri Lankan, 17th century Some earlier piha kaetta have forward-angled blades, a reference to the old Indian blade-making tradition which survived in the south of the subcontinent."
"Dagger (piha kaetta) Sri Lankan, 19th century Later piha kaetta have longer blades than the earlier ones. The style of hilt remained remarkably consistent."
* Kalaharii
