Ethnographic Arms & Armour - View Single Post - A gift for Sultan Muhammad Ibn Tughluq of India

Jens Nordlunde · 17th May 2005, 02:41 PM

Hi Jim,
You may be right about what people regarded as Egypt can have been in a very broad sense, but Battuta came from Tangier, so I doubt that he would use the word in such a broad sense – but you never know.

There are however a few things, which bothers me, a lot of the Egyptian swords, must have been made of Indian steel, as the import from India was big. If so, why were the Egyptian swords known as being at the lower end of the ‘top ten’ list, and the Indian swords at the top, if the same steel was used?

Maybe the answer is to be found in Robert Elgood’s book mentioned above, on page 104. Here he quotes an old author: ‘Adab al-Harb (1211-1236) lists the swords of all the places he has heard of: Chini, Rusi, Khazari, Rumi, Firangi, Yamani, Bilamani, Shahi, Ala I, Hindi and Kashmiri, and comments that all the examples are famous swords but amongst them the Hindi sword is best and most lustrous.’ So, maybe the Egyptian sword was good, but not as good as the Indian.

Hi Aqtai,
Thank you for showing the pictures of the swords, made only about one hundred years after Battuta’s stay in India, the Egyptian swords they gave to the Sultan could very well have been of this type.

17th May 2005, 02:41 PM	#12
Jens Nordlunde Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Europe Posts: 2,718	Hi Jim, You may be right about what people regarded as Egypt can have been in a very broad sense, but Battuta came from Tangier, so I doubt that he would use the word in such a broad sense – but you never know. There are however a few things, which bothers me, a lot of the Egyptian swords, must have been made of Indian steel, as the import from India was big. If so, why were the Egyptian swords known as being at the lower end of the ‘top ten’ list, and the Indian swords at the top, if the same steel was used? Maybe the answer is to be found in Robert Elgood’s book mentioned above, on page 104. Here he quotes an old author: ‘Adab al-Harb (1211-1236) lists the swords of all the places he has heard of: Chini, Rusi, Khazari, Rumi, Firangi, Yamani, Bilamani, Shahi, Ala I, Hindi and Kashmiri, and comments that all the examples are famous swords but amongst them the Hindi sword is best and most lustrous.’ So, maybe the Egyptian sword was good, but not as good as the Indian. Hi Aqtai, Thank you for showing the pictures of the swords, made only about one hundred years after Battuta’s stay in India, the Egyptian swords they gave to the Sultan could very well have been of this type.