Quote:
Originally Posted by Jim McDougall
While the discussion originally pertains to the classification spectrum of Mande sphere weapons, I had noted the distinct feature of the flared tip scabbard which occurs also in Sudan with kaskara scabbards.
So using the occurrence of such features on other 'Mande' associated weapons with similar features, actually which are bulbous rather than flared, the question is what do these represent, as well as decorative character. The potential for snake related potential is brought up.
By analogy, in India there are the swords with disc like features which are termed by collectors, 'cobra swords' referring to the flared hood of the cobra snake.
These seem to be primarily situated in Uttar Pradesh in Northern India with the Pahari people and also connected to Hindu Rajputs. The chakra (=disc, wheel) is a weapon of Shiva, which is what this feature actually represents, not a cobra or snake.
The disc appears typically at the root of the blade, however there are examples of Hindu basket hilt with the disc at distal end of blade, with a serrated (nagan) blade.
These are the kinds of situations we end up with in trying to determine what sort of symbolism is being represented and hoping to apply that to the determining regions the feature commonality might denote.
Again, while off the course of the subject weapons, just an illustration of the situation.
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I don't think the bulbous-shaped or cilindrical hilts have any particular symbolism, but they are however a very deep rooted visual design language of weaponry in the region, and probably deeply tied to the Mandinka world. Even the leather sabres share this design language, but it is hidden and visible only when sheathed. It's a subtle allussion, but it is there.
In high status shortswords and knives the pommels tend to be more bulbous and in leather hilted examples they tend towards cilindrical, but it is essentially a continuum of the same shape. The pommels are more uniform in the sense that they have a similar construction, but on the guard you either have a cilindrical round hilt or a more extended area. Some have both, one when sheathed and one unsheated (typical of sabres). There is a lot of variation because of regional and cultural styles expected in an area as large as Senegal to Sierra Leone to Segou, but it points to a common origin, a macrofamily of weapons (like the enormous La Tene family of swords from classical antiquity to the Middle Ages).
Just an idea I have had for a time.