This is truly a beautiful hilt on this tulwar, and as I have been asked to offer comments, I would note I am by far no professional, nor linguist. It is actually not realistic in my opinion to attempt to pidgeon hole a classification on this hilt form as there is to date (and to my knowledge) no reliable typology of tulwar hilts that is able to accurately categorize them. In Pant ("Indian Arms and Armour") the author has presented the only work which attempts to do this. However, the classifications are ambiguous and do not clearly establish period nor region, simply alluding to these by the use of descriptive terms using place names or rulers names.
I should note that I am unaware of any classification using the term 'Punjabi' for a hilt form, nor the letter T along with it. Since the Punjab is of course central to the Sikh Faith, I would consider that perhaps this might be a classification noted in Sikh resources with regards to tulwar hilts, however I do not have access to such material.
As this hilt's inscription in apparantly is in Devanagari, with date 1813 (V.S.) it would seem to correspond to Hindi in language. The mention of Lahore of course again suggests Punjab, which with the Hindi inscription sugggests probably a Rajput weapon. Tulwars were used by Rajputs, Mughals and Sikhs, but not common among Hindus, so that is my line of thinking.
If this were a Sikh weapon, it is my impression this script would be in Gurmukhi, and while Devanagari is used in writing Marathi, they did not typically use tulwars as far as I know, and favored the khanda/firangi.
I hope these notes might be of some help, but I think in these cases, the inscriptions are the most reliable identifiers.
All best regards,
Jim
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