Many thanks for your thoughts on this. I should have thought of northern India ... but didn't ! Which shows how easy it is to fall into a narrow way of thinking.
Wasn't it Egerton (in his book on Indian arms and armour) who mentioned that curved northern Indian blades have the cutting edge on the INSIDE, and southern Indian blades have the cutting edge on the OUTSIDE. When you think of the movement of people, as well as artefacts, around the subcontinent, this is surprising - I would expect a mixture of styles everywhere - yet it seems to be true.
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