Gold Indian Coorg Pichangatti Knife

Pichangatti knives are a distinctly south Indian form of dagger. The word itself is derived from a Tamil word for "hand knife", and these knives were traditionally worn by the Coorgs, or Kodavas. The Kodava people are indigenous to the southwestern region of India, residing in what is now the modern state of Karnataka. During the colonial period, the British named the region "Coorgi", a corruption of the Kannada word "kodaga" or "kodagu" meaning "hilly, steep", referring to the hilly environment of the region.

This example is of superb quality and condition, mounted in entirely in silver with solid gold decoration around the pommel and along the scabbard. The blade is the classic blunt hatchet form with a clipped point, decorated with etching along the spine. This example retains the entirety of complete heavy silver chain and tool set which carries a set of grooming implements such as a file, tweezers and an ear scraper.

The Kodavas were known as tough warriors, establishing many wars against the neighboring nations to protect the sovereignty of their land. When the British Empire intervened the region in 1834, a war broke up between the Kodavas and the British. In 1884, a riot broke out near Malappuram. As a result of this incident, the British punished the Kodavas by seizing their weapons, including the pichangatti. It was recorded that "17,295 weapons of which 7,503 were guns" were confiscated by the British colonial administration. Most of these seized weapons were dumped into the sea, while the high-quality examples can still be seen in what is now the Madras Museum (Elgood 1995).

As a result, few knives of this level of quality are now found on the market, particularly those mounted in gold. The finest known example is found in the Royal Collection Trust, mounted entirely in gold, and presented to King Edward VII, when Prince of Wales, during his tour of India in 1875-76 by the inhabitants of Coorg [Kodagu] (See Acc. Nr. RCIN 11297) before many of the finer usable weapons in the region were destroyed.

References:

Elgood, R., (1995) Firearms of the Islamic World: In the Tareq Rajab Museum, Kuwait, IB Taurus Publishers

Meghani. K. (2018) Splendours of the Subcontinent: A Prince’s Tour of India, 1875–6