Is this a military badge Indian ??
 

I have a pair of these gilt badges, 3.6cms across, 4 rear pins, donkey / mule in the centre and what appears to be Sankrit writing at the bottom. Any ideas, not even sure if they are military, but they did come with a few WW1 badges, possibly Indian ?


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Order of the Golden Donkey !!!??:D:D

No offence meant! The writing at the bottom appears to be one of the south-Indian scripts, but no idea what it is..Doubt whether it is military though.

Hello

could it be furniture, clock, decoration..... ??

cordially
Didier

Thanks for your replies, it is a bit of a mystery, as you say, probably not military, but it did come with a collection of WW1 Canadian badges, so who knows ???? Maybe it is the Order of the Golden Donkey as suggested :):)

Looks more like a hare to me. Whatever, I'm convinced it isn't military - looks more like a decorative fitment. Possibly even with a reference to hunting

GTB

I do believe you`re right, it is indeed a hare or rabbit, didn`t notice the short tail.

I believe that one of the British units - possibly the Transport Corps - rejoiced in the nickname 'Donley Wallopers' but, no, this is not an Indian military badge and, like others, I suspect it is a) a rabbit and b) purely decorative.

Not convinced that the squiggles at the bottom are Deva Nagri script either, though they may be intended for that. But, as I don't read that script I may be wrong. :)

the 'key' border looks Chinese to me and the hare or rabbit features in their iconography .... I would guess a Chinese good luck charm & perhaps related to the Chinese Year of the Rabbit.

I should add that the plant depicted is the lotus , which features in both Indian and Chinese decoration , but in conjunction with the key pattern border and the rabbit , this makes the badge sure to be Chinese .

[QUOTE=Not convinced that the squiggles at the bottom are Deva Nagri script either, though they may be intended for that. But, as I don't read that script I may be wrong. :)[/QUOTE]

Hi Peter,
It's not Devanagri script. That's used in most North Indian languages. This is almost certainly one of the Dravidian languages from down south I think- either Malayalam or Kannada ... I'm a south Indian myself and the former is my mother tongue, but am sorry to say that I unfortunately cannot read it..anyway neither here no there :)

Thank you everyone for your interesting comments and suggestions, looks like they`re going to remain a mystery for now.

I am pretty sure that it is a Sri Lankan badge. I had an aluminium badge of a similar design.

That's my bias showing, Khyber! My interest in the old Indian Army, especially the units on the Western Front - the Rwwalpindi, Peshawar, and Secunderbad Brigades - predisposes me to think 'northern' when I think India. My sincere apologies! I was infected earlier in life by the old 'martial races' nonsense and tend to fall pray to it from time to time if I'm not careful. :(

Chinese makes sense to me too, but if someone has a confirmed example from Sri Lanka, I suppose that's the answer. And one of the reasons I love this forum! An early girl friend once referred to my 'storehouse of mental dross' and where but here would I ever get to share it with like minded... gentlemen? ;)

Peter