Rare, Very Early Sri Lankan Sword Stick with a Silvered Hilt set with Rubies (Bonikkula)

This rare and unusual Sri Lankan sword either is a sword stick or is based on one. (The blade is too wide for a conventional sword stick but the curved handle mirrors the handle of a walking cane and so is quite like that of sword sticks at that time). It comprises a single-edged, damascened blade and the hilt or handle. There is no scabbard.

The hilt is surmounted by what appears to be a version of a Kandyan lion, and terminates with a serpent finial with a gaping mouth. Both the lion and the serpent have rose-cut rubies for eyes. the hilt is very much influenced by the better known Sri Lankan sword, the kasthane.

The hilt and its decorative elements retain much of their thick silvering.

Each side of the hilt is decorated with a chiselled band of scrolling leaf (kola) motifs.

The Indian term for such a sword stick is gupti, but in Sri Lanka, several names were used including bonikkula, kala bonde and kala bondhalava.

One writer observed that the sword sticks of the Dutch East India Company had become fashionable by the noblemen of the Sinhalese court towards the end of the 17th century (De Silva & Wickramasinghe, 2006, p. 187). Local swordsmiths subsequently seem to have made local versions. The writers observe those with flat iron blades (similar to the example here) were intended to be used in battle, whereas those with scabbards were reserved for ceremonial occasions.

The sword is from the collection of Sir Christopher Ondaatje.

Sir Christopher Ondaatje is of Sinhalese and Dutch ancestry and was born in Sri Lanka (or Ceylon as it was known) in 1933. A businessman, writer and Olympian, he is the older brother of author Michael Ondaatje, author of The English Patient, among other works.