Sri Lankan weapons, Piha Kaetta knife and Castane's sword.

Ancient knives of Sri Lanka (Ceylon) are known among collectors for their exquisite decoration, made in fine craftsmanship. Many of the best were made in the Four Workshops or Pattal Hatars, working exclusively for the king, and were presented as a reward by nobles and officials along with castan swords and a cane as a sign of rank or position. They were also presented as diplomatic gifts.

Sinhalese, Sinhala (self-designation – "lion clan"), Sinhalese, people, the main population of Sri Lanka (mainly the southwestern and mountainous regions of the island, the most densely populated and economically developed). They live in Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, etc. The number of 12,760 thousand people, including 12,700 thousand people in Sri Lanka.  The ethnic core of the Sinhalese was made up of Indo-Aryans who migrated from India in the 1st millennium BC. According to legend, the first rulers of the Sinhalese belonged to the "lion clan". In the ethnogenesis of the Sinhalese, an important role was played by the Veddas, later – the Tamils. The first state formations appeared in Sri Lanka in the last centuries BC, at the same time Buddhism spread. The state of Kandy, which emerged in the fifteenth century, played an important role in the ethnic history of the Sinhalese; it defended its independence in the struggle against the Portuguese (XVI century), then the Dutch colonialists, who settled on the coast of the island. At the turn of the XVIII-XIX centuries, the Dutch colonialists were ousted by the British, who annexed Kandy in 1815. After a long liberation struggle, the peoples of Sri Lanka gained independence (1948), and the processes of ethnic consolidation of the Sinhalese intensified.

Most Sinhalese live in villages, the main occupations are ploughed irrigated rice sowing, on the coast – fishing. A significant role in the economy is played by the cultivation of coconut palm, gardening, gardening. After independence, the Sinhalese became increasingly involved in industrial production.  Artistic crafts include embossing, wood carving (ritual masks), frescoes and sculpture. Folklore, folk theater, dances in ritual masks are developed.

Sinhala knife piha kaetta or pihia

An interesting Sinhala knife, fir kaetta or pihia, probably of the late Kandian period. The blade is mostly straight, with one groove and a moderately sharp tip. On both sides of the symmetrically arranged vegetation, silver panels have been preserved, a typical Sinhalese decorative element called liya-venla. A simplified version of the same motif is repeated on the back of the blade. The most unusual feature of this piece is the style and material, which is cast from a single piece of brass, in the shape of a Sinhala mythical bird called sérapéṅdiya. Its tail is connected to a brass, beautifully silver-plated "sleeve" from which a blade emerges, as if it grew out of the tail of a bird.

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Such handles with birds are very rare.One of them, perhaps the oldest, was published in Hales (2013) and is believed to date back to the 15th century.Hales suspects that all of the earliest forms had a serapia head, and the handle lost the shape of a bird in favor of more complex abstract forms. Another example, probably from the 18th century, is published in Deraniygala (1942), which has a horn or wooden handle. In different museums in Sri Lanka there are only five specimens.

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This knife comes with original carved wooden sheaths.Made of two halves of dark wood, connected at the end by a metal rod and fastened on top with a brass sheet.The surface of the scabbard is grooved.

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The knife is complete with an original writing stylus called paṅhinda.They were used to write on palm leaves, which were held in the left hand and the stylus in the right.The stylus has a steel tip inserted into a brass sleeve.The upper part is made of a single piece of cast bronze in the form of decorative spheres and rings decorated with floral motifs.

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Sword of Castane

Kastane (kastane) is the same Sinhala sword, or rather, a half-saber. It is really short – 50-70 cm. The blade is slightly curved and sharpened on one side, like a conventional saber. And usually castane blades are European, Dutch production. Closer to the ephesus on the blade can be a brass or gold notch in the form of geometric shapes, most often triangles. The handle is made of dark horn or wood, which can be lined with combed sheets of silver or gold, if they are the swords of aristocrats.

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The head of the handle is always decorated in the form of a dragon head (or dragon-like monster). The eyes of this dragon can be made of brass (on horn handles) or precious stones, most often rubies (on handles made of gold and silver). The garda is complex in shape and made of iron encrusted with brass or coated with precious metals. One of the iron "whiskers", longer, covers the fingers and ends with a small dragon head, the other two, also with dragon heads, are short, bend to the blade and, apparently, perform a decorative function. Quite powerful languettes that enter the blade between the short mustaches of the garda further strengthen the blade in the hilt.

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The origin of the handle of this shape is not entirely clear. But, most likely, according to Western connoisseurs of weapons, it is associated with the form of ephesus of Portuguese swords of the XV century or Arabic sabers of the nimcha type.

Both versions are credible. It was the Portuguese who were the first Europeans to land in Sri Lanka, and with the Arabs from about the tenth century, the Sinhalese were associated with trade relations. The appearance of dragon-like heads as an element of decor undoubtedly occurred under hindu influence. Moreover, the "dragons" on the castan are very similar to the South Indian mythical monsters, the images of which can be found on weapons and bas-reliefs of temples. The teak sheath on the outstanding specimens, like the handle, are covered with combed plates of silver and gold. Probably on the simpler castan, the sheath was without metal covers. This can explain the fact that the sheath for them is almost not preserved.

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There are three main types of castane found among antiques:

1. Castane Kandy, which were made in the workshops of the King, who granted them to nobles and local chiefs as symbols of rank and position or as gifts to diplomats. They usually have a rich decorated handle made of gold or silver, sometimes ivory or horn. Gold were made for the king himself, and silver for his highest officials, Adigar, who were mostly feudal lords and served as ministers and governors. The blades ranged from short to long, from light to heavy.

2. Purely combat castanes, often quite heavy, in the same general style as the first class, but with a more rudimentary finish.
3. The castanes of poor countries were made under foreign control to bestow on local leaders.They tend to be short, light, and purely ceremonial.Although the finishes are often technically done well, they look somewhat clunky and lack the aesthetic appeal of swords made in the Kingdom of Kandy. After Kandy came to the British in 1815, only this type remained in production.The blades on them are purely ceremonial.