The sacrificial axe (Ram da) was made in Bengal, in eastern India, probably about 1870. It has a heavy steel blade and a wooden handle. Axes of this kind are associated with goat or buffalo sacrifices to the Hindu goddesses Kali or Durga. The heavy blade aided the downward thrust to perform the sacrifice in one movement. Any obstruction to a sacrifice is considered to be a bad omen. The handle is inlaid with brass, and it has brass mounts and a gilt finial, inlaid with black and red lac (a natural resin). An eye is engraved on each face of the blade. An engraved inscription in Bengali gives the name of the maker and his place of residence: "Shri Becharam Karmakar san Naupala" (Becharam Karmakar lived in Naupala (Napara?). His family name indicates that he belonged to the ironsmiths' caste (Karmakar). Kamarpara (neighbourhood of ironsmiths) in Ranaghat, Nadia District in Bengal, at one time housed prosperous smithies and forges as cottage industries.
The axe was acquired by the Indian Museum in London from the Annual International Exhibition of 1874, also in London. It was transferred with other parts of the Indian Museum's collection to the South Kensington Museum, later renamed the Victoria and Albert Museum, in 1879.