Nice Indian Tulwar, and Help With Its Inscriptions
 

I only recently acquired this tulwar and after a good clean up it turned out quite nicely, with a lovely hilt, a very fine and beefy, heavy blade of consistent and quality wootz steel, fine koftgari down the entire spine, and an inscription near the forte. There also appears to be an inscription on the pommel cap in silver koftgari, but it is much less clear.

This is a very large and heavy sword at 40in. overall, with a 34in. blade.

The scabbard is newly made in the traditional style.

I am hoping I can get some assistance with the following:

1.Can anyone identify the hilt's artistic style, and the area of India it is likely from???

2.The inscription on the pommel cap seems more difficult than the inscription on the spine. Can I get any help with a translation???

3.Lastly, can anyone translate the inscription on the blade's spine???

Thanks for any and all assistance!

Great wootz and koftgari - nearly pristine! :eek:

Charles,

A very nice sword. Of note to me is not only the quality of the wootz steel but the fact the blade is of the form with a hollow grind and a wide beveled edge. I don't recall too many high quality wootz blades of the form.

Also, the combination of gold and silver to the hilt is interesting.

The hollow ground blade and beveled edge initially made me doubt if the blade was wootz. I associate those characteristics with European blades, but there were enough hints in the pictures and coupled with the quality of the hilt and koftgari, I decided to take the chance and make the purchase.

Yeah I agree. When I see hollow ground and beveled edges I usually think of European blades too. Unusual to see these features on Indian made wootz blades.

Its a beautiful blade, I wanted to get it. Glad you did.

I dont know why everyone assuming here that hollow ground is a European feature? I have seen and owned Persian and Indian blades with this feature, also European ones too.

Now the curvature, the ricasso under quillons, the tip shape and the thickness of the blade is a clear sign its not European and wootz, atleast thats what I thought when I saw it on Ebay.

Even before reading the inscription, when I saw this sword I thought it looks from north India, where Nawabs used to rule. It is an Indian Blade with Afghan and Persian influences, because that is what the Nawabs were, Muslim rulers of certain parts of India (think Muslim Rajas), and their smiths would have been more likely to copy Muslim blade designs than Hindu or Sikh designs. Most Tulwars you see come from the Sikhs and those usually have a ricasso and a weird hilt angle to accommodate their fighting style. Plus since India is made up of so many ethnicities, there tends to be a bunch of different style of blades.
Anyways I can't make out the first word since, the picture is not that great, but the rest reads, Sarkaar Nawaab Ali Khaan Bahaadur. Sarkaar can be used for a government employee or someone of rank, Nawaab is the title, Ali is the Name Khaan is the term for respect and bahaadur is brave.

Thanks so much for your help and your valuable input! So we can assume this was the sword of some court official?

Thanks again.

Any ideas about the pommel cap here?