utlity blade shapes / knives from India

[brihacharan]

Not to say traditional tools were not good, they served their purpose when nothing better was available. Now, I don't mind buying an antique to hang on the wall, but using........duh!

Briha

[discovershashank]

Hi, not sure if it is an answer as you were talking about utility knife. Here I am talking about Jambiya. Although it is Arab origin, I know about it being a historical nizams knife. They have been in this country for many centuries and are integral part of Nawabi culture.
Other knife is the bhujali which is still widely used by tribal and people of Jharkhand. It's majorily inspired from the knukri but it's a little different.

[Granadier]

when england captured our land and everythimg that belonged to us was sent to england

What would they do with a few million kitchen knives? The Koh-i-noor is a different story!!

Marty, Khukri would be an example (unless you are considering purely India and not Nepal). Others would be different styles of Chuuris. Then the dah, dao, whatever you call it, probably a score different shapes.

Dunno about other parts of the country, but in Bengal, food prep was traditionally done on what we call a "boti". Which is basically a flat wooden piece with a metal blade on top at approx 110 degrees. (see http://www.fivetastes.com/traditional-i ... nsils.html under "boti"). You had to squat with a foot on the wooden block, and chop the food on the blade. The edge was facing inwards. Even my mom used to use this, it is only recently (say our generation) that Bongs have shifted to knives, that too mostly non-residents like me, and in urban centres. Blades used to be very thin, and I have seen my mother chop tomatoes for a salad finer than a chef! Some "botis" even had a coconut scraper on the top of the blade.

Khukari is not just a Nepali weapon. There are so many Indian Nepalis in West Bengal & Sikkim.

[essdee1972]

Granadier, I meant the origin was Nepali, Gurkha to be exact. An NRI Bong using a Boti in NYC doesn't make the boti an American tool!