WOW! Now this is a dramatic example of contrast in view of the current thread discussing smaller grips and weaponry found in Indian edged weapons.
Ariel, I would like to join in thanking you for the fascinating introduction and explanation of your career in medical research, which is most important. Your contributions to advancing knowledge and helping people with these maladies are commendable and I hope well recognized with the gratitude deserved.
While the supposition toward this rather large 'Khyber' being for someone so afflicted with acromegaly is of course possible, it does seem that I have been told that Afghan ethnic groups are often of larger size, and indeed with large hands. I hope using the term 'large' is sufficient to allow for various dispositions of hand size in describing such cases.
Returning to the grip size denominator, there were discussions of tulwars without the disc pommels, which were attributed to Afghan regions, and it was presumed that these were simply damaged or had lost their pommel discs. In research I once did where I interviewed a British Brigadier who had been in action in the Khyber regions in the 1930s, he showed me an example of one of these 'disc less' tulwars which he took from a tribesman there.
This seems to have been its intended character as I could not see signs of damage or removal. I thought it unusual, but did not pursue the matter at the time.
This is a fascinating case Ariel, and I hope we will see more examples of 'mega' weapons, and the very plausible circumstances of their being associated with persons of large size or of course with this unusual disorder.
Naturally the famed Biblical story of David and Goliath comes to mind.
Thank you again for a great topic!
|