Ethnographic Arms & Armour - View Single Post

tom hyle · 10th April 2005, 05:15 AM

I pretty much follow and agree. I've seen some BIG Sikhs. There is also the legend (which actually doesn't seem right to me, because of the numbers and multi-caste ownership of tulwars (?)) of the tulwar as a sword of aristocrats who never work, and work makes your hands larger and flatter, like an unbound foot, over time. They guy with the Guiness book fingernails is/was a Hindoo aristocrat following (to an extreme) a tradition of displaying the non-use of one's hands. I can hold at least 1/2 of tulwars reasonably well, though tightly gripped by disc and quillons, and about 1/4 of those comfortably and not tightly. I am a fairly large human. You've seen me next to Therion, but you might not know that Therion is at least a 1/2 giant. My sister, say, a slim and athletic woman (Down youse! Down, I say!) could probably hold any tulwar I've seen comfortably. I call her slim and athletic, but she is about the size of most "natural" normal size olden days men. Then there's this; the tulwars I've handled have all been brought to US, and may be unduly biased by the large hands of Americans, if you see what I mean.

10th April 2005, 05:15 AM	#9
tom hyle Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Houston, TX, USA Posts: 1,254	I pretty much follow and agree. I've seen some BIG Sikhs. There is also the legend (which actually doesn't seem right to me, because of the numbers and multi-caste ownership of tulwars (?)) of the tulwar as a sword of aristocrats who never work, and work makes your hands larger and flatter, like an unbound foot, over time. They guy with the Guiness book fingernails is/was a Hindoo aristocrat following (to an extreme) a tradition of displaying the non-use of one's hands. I can hold at least 1/2 of tulwars reasonably well, though tightly gripped by disc and quillons, and about 1/4 of those comfortably and not tightly. I am a fairly large human. You've seen me next to Therion, but you might not know that Therion is at least a 1/2 giant. My sister, say, a slim and athletic woman (Down youse! Down, I say!) could probably hold any tulwar I've seen comfortably. I call her slim and athletic, but she is about the size of most "natural" normal size olden days men. Then there's this; the tulwars I've handled have all been brought to US, and may be unduly biased by the large hands of Americans, if you see what I mean.