Tulwar hilts made of silver
 

Hello all together,

I have no experience with indian edged weapons, and my english is bad.
Please excuse me.

I am looking for examples of tulwar hilts made from silver completely.
Is that possible?

Who can help with examples?

References are welcome.

kind regards
Enibas

Welcome to the forum, and sorry for the late reply.
Yes there are a number of silver hilts. Some are plain silver, while others are gilded silver, and sometimes enamelled.
Here is one.
Jens

Very nice hilt. Are there any silver markings?
Erich

beautiful hilt.

All right, to stick to the rules I also have to show the whole sword, here it is.

Hideous. Absolutely hideous. How can you bear to have that in your posession, Jens? :(

As a personal favor to you, my friend, I will fight my nausea and keep it for you.

Let me know and I'll PM you my shipping information...

I dont want to deviate too much from the present discussion, but is this langet not an extremely different form compared to most other Indo-Persian tulwar hilts? It seems to me that entirely silvered Mughal hilts are quite rare compared to the usual koftgari patterns.
Have the cartouche and buduh been translated Jens?

Aside from the obvious attractiveness of this tulwar and its silvered hilt, there are other notable features which might reveal more on where other silver hilts might be known.
Erich asks a quite valid question, are there any hallmarks ?
With the popularity of silver hilts in the west in the late 18th century, perhaps the style influenced the princely states in India. In many other colonial settings, silver mounted hilts often had hallmarks in accord with western systems.

Other issues to hilts made of silver
 

Thanks for showing this beautiful tulwar and all answers! :)
Also, I am equally impressed by the blade and the hilt.

Sure are hilts of silver possible, which were driven to decorative purposes?

In addition I have two questions:

-Which kind of decor ist possible? Flowers?

-So a collector told me, that figural carved handles are the younger ones, ca. from 19th century. He showed me a tulwar. The hilt was apparently driven from silver and in the form of a tiger's head. Hilt probably made from massive silver. (This tulwar has triggered actually my questions here in the forum)

Can that be true? Or does anyone know of a counterexample?

kind regards
enibas

Hello Andrew :), a long time I hid it away at a place where I was sure I could find it, but now I have forgotten where that is. Should I however find it, I will be sure to remember your thoughts about where it ought to be :D.
Eric, no there are no hallmarks, and I have, as far as I remember, nit seen hallmarks on Indian made silver hilts.
Jim, I have been told that the inscription says 'made by Mirza Ali'.
Silver Mughal hilts are not seen often, and you are right the end of the langet is most unusual - it is the only one I have ever seen.
Enibas, silver hilts can be plain like the one shown, gilded or decorated in many different ways. It is not true that hilts ending in an animal head are 19th century. They can be, but they can also be much older.
Jens

Thank you Jens, it really is unusual and makes me think of the solar or lunar symbols used in Rajput and Sikh symbolism. I was thinking of the Sikh headdress which is conelike and decorated with chakra and devices more like crescents.
Perhaps someone out there might offer some thoughts for such an unusual device in place of the usual langets, maybe the Sikh readers may have some insight. While it is a Mughal blade, possibly remounted in Sikh or Rajput hilt?

The langet reminds me of the Shiite Alams carried during the Moharram processions in India. Have attached a picture of some alams from Hyderabad in the Deccan. But again, these flags/symbols (alams) were and are still used all over the subcontinent.

This handle looks like my favorite kind of turkish decor: plain silver. Simple, elegant, no curlicues and crenellations. Perfect.
BTW, I am ready to drop by and check your storage closets. Finder's keepers:-)

Excellent comparison Nidhi! and the Sh'ia influences in Mughal courts would seem likely to produce this subtly appointed silvered tulwar, but still wondering what symbolism may be represented in the balanced orb.
As has been noted, most tulwars seem to have similar langet shapes which may reflect architectural features, and some have the simple elongated and squared style, but as far as I know this one is a singular example.

Jim, yes it is - as far as I know. I have never seen a tulwar with such a laget ending before.

Enibas, there are other silver hilted tulwars, and some of the form a group, but I have yet to research this group, and it seems as if it could be difficult.

Jens

Hi,
I have attached some images of two silver hilts on Indian swords.
The first is on a shamshere blade, and the hilt is carved out of solid silver. It ends with a lion's head with the tail of a cobra in its mouth. It has recently been gilded in the traditional 'mullamma' process in Benaras. I unfortunately don't have an image of the blade with me presently.
The second is a tulwar and seems to have a thick plating of silver on the iron hilt.
Thanks and best wishes,
ASingh