Original 19th Century Nepalese Long Leaf Kukri Fighting Knife Original Items

Original Item: The kukri is the national weapon of Nepal, traditionally serving the role of a basic utility knife for the Nepali-speaking Gurkhas, and consequently is a characteristic weapon of the Nepali Army as well as the Gurkha regiment in the British Military known as The Royal Gurkha Rifles who use the Kukri as part of their insignia.  

The Gorkha Kukri is possibly the most recognizable and famous fighting knife ever developed. Indigenous to the mountain Kingdom of Nepal, home of the Gorkha who were “absorbed” into the British sphere of influence with the Treaty of Seguli in 1816. These ferocious fighters were infamous for their valor and for using the kukri an amazing “Tool of Death”. It is a forward leaning leaf shaped blade, which provided the user with leveraged striking power. The kukri was became an everyday tool as much as it was a deadly weapon. Introduced long before the British arrived in the early 19th century, the Kukri became standard equipment for Gorkha Regiments serving in the British Army. Ironically the earliest Kukris are the largest, which seems improbable as improvements in nutrition and health care has resulted in mankind in general being much larger today than in 1800, yet with Kukris it is the exact reverse.

All of IMA’s Kukris originate from our 2003 purchase of the Royal Nepalese Arsenal, which was located at the palace of Lagan Silekhana in Katmandu, Nepal. The purchase included a considerable number of military issue Kukris.

This Victorian Era Long Leaf Kukri is the largest and oldest design of kukri we received out of Nepal, and were in use up until the late 1890s. We have very few of these left, and even fewer with markings, please make hand select requests for ones with markings. 

Learn more here- Identifying and Collecting the Nepalese Military Kukri.

ALL KNIVES –

– Arrive dirty packed in old original grease they are totally un-cleaned as found in Nepal after 100+ years in storage.
– Vary in size, most approximately 18″ long, 2-1/2″ wide, 3/8″ thick.
– Vary in condition.
– Vary in appearance
– Wood Grips have minor cracks and/or small missing bits of wood.
– Are the real deal and are 100% genuine antique military issue knives, these are not tourist made reproductions.

History of the Kukri-

The kukri (alternatively spelled khukri or khukuri) is a Nepalese knife with an inwardly curved edge, used as both a tool and as a weapon.

The kukri was, and in many cases still is, the basic and traditional utility knife of the Nepalese people. It is a symbolic weapon of the Nepalese Army, and of all Gurkha regiments throughout the world. It is a part of the regimental weaponry and heraldry of the Royal Gurkha Rifles, and is used in many traditional rituals among different ethnic groups of Nepal, including one where the groom wears one during the wedding ceremony. It is known to many people as simply the “Gurkha blade” or “Gurkha knife”.

The pronunciation “kukri” is of Western origin, as the Nepalese people to whom this weapon belongs pronounce it with three syllables – “khukuri.”

The oldest known kukris are in the National Museum in Kathmandu, Nepal that belonged to Drabya Shah, circa 1559. The kukri came to be known to the Western world when the East India Company came into conflict with the growing Gurkha Empire, culminating in the Gurkha War of 1814-1816. It gained literary attention in the 1897 novel Dracula by Irish author Bram Stoker. Despite the popular image of Dracula having a stake driven through his heart at the conclusion of a climactic battle between Dracula’s bodyguards and the heroes, Mina’s narrative describes his throat being sliced through by Jonathan Harker’s kukri and his heart pierced by Quincey Morris’ Bowie knife.

All Gurkha troops are issued with a kukri; in modern times members of the Brigade of Gurkhas receive training in its use. The kukri gained fame in the Gurkha War for its effectiveness. Its continued use through both World War I and World War II enhanced its reputation among both Allied troops and enemy forces. Its acclaim was demonstrated in North Africa by one unit’s situation report. It reads: “Enemy losses: ten killed, ours nil. Ammunition expenditure nil.” Elsewhere during the Second World War, the kukri was purchased and used by other British, Commonwealth and US troops training in India, including the Chindits and Merrill’s Marauders. The notion of the Gurkha with his kukri carried on through to the Falklands War.

On September 2, 2010, Bishnu Shrestha, a retired Indian Army Gorkha soldier, alone and armed only with a kukri, defeated 40 bandits who attacked a passenger train he was on in India. He killed three of the bandits, wounded eight more and forced the rest of the band to flee.