Ethnographic Arms & Armour - View Single Post

Philip · 6th May 2017, 07:18 AM

Your blade has notable design features which link it to other forms of saber found across the width of Asia. The raised back-edge running about 1/3 way down from the point first appears on blades of some of the Turkic civilizations of Central and Western Asia during the later Middle Ages, such as the Timurids and Seljuks. It became the characteristic feature of Mamluk and Ottoman sabers, and eventually found favor as far afield as Poland, Hungary, and China in later centuries. No surprise that it became popular in Muslim-dominated north India since the Mughal rulers claimed descent from both the Timurids and the Mongols. In arms history literature, a standard term for this raised back-edge is "yelman", a word of Turkish origin.

Along the spine of your blade is a row of segmented channels or fullers, not uncommon on Indian talwar blades. This may be a Persian affectation --there is a shamshir with this feature, attributed to Shah Safi of Iran (17th cent.) in the Victoria and Albert Museum, a photo of it appears in C. Jarnuszkiewicz, SZABLA WSCHODNIA I JEJ TYPY NARODOWE (the oriental saber and its national types), London, 1973, plate 27). However, it also remained popular on certain Chinese sabers well into the 19th cent., and on a few Polish examples from the 17th cent. and perhaps later (Polish Army Museum, inv. no. 760 being a good example).

6th May 2017, 07:18 AM	#3
Philip Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: California Posts: 1,036	blade design on your talwar Your blade has notable design features which link it to other forms of saber found across the width of Asia. The raised back-edge running about 1/3 way down from the point first appears on blades of some of the Turkic civilizations of Central and Western Asia during the later Middle Ages, such as the Timurids and Seljuks. It became the characteristic feature of Mamluk and Ottoman sabers, and eventually found favor as far afield as Poland, Hungary, and China in later centuries. No surprise that it became popular in Muslim-dominated north India since the Mughal rulers claimed descent from both the Timurids and the Mongols. In arms history literature, a standard term for this raised back-edge is "yelman", a word of Turkish origin. Along the spine of your blade is a row of segmented channels or fullers, not uncommon on Indian talwar blades. This may be a Persian affectation --there is a shamshir with this feature, attributed to Shah Safi of Iran (17th cent.) in the Victoria and Albert Museum, a photo of it appears in C. Jarnuszkiewicz, SZABLA WSCHODNIA I JEJ TYPY NARODOWE (the oriental saber and its national types), London, 1973, plate 27). However, it also remained popular on certain Chinese sabers well into the 19th cent., and on a few Polish examples from the 17th cent. and perhaps later (Polish Army Museum, inv. no. 760 being a good example).