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Old 5th December 2018, 09:05 PM   #10
Jim McDougall
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Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Route 66
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From the Isle of Mann!!!!! Now that's an unusual neighborhood for this to be in.
This has every appearance of a Rajput weapon in my thinking, the canted stem very much as often found on the Khanda hilt (or firangi). It seems these pierced langets are something seen in the northwest, often into Afghan regions. The Rajputs are of course known for their use of both the tulwar and khanda. The amalgamation of both forms as seen here may explain the unusual character of this wonderfully static piece.

Here I would point out that Scottish units in the British Army were quite well represented in India during the Raj (I have seen photos of Indian figures in native regiments in Khyber regions with Scottish basket hilts). It would be tempting to consider the unusual provenance of this clearly untouched Indian sword may suggest it could have been a 'bringback' from a soldier in one of these Scottish units in the 19th c. Often these kinds of things remain in estates for generations.

Nicely done Wayne.......now we have this stately old warrior for posterity and it may have stories to tell us
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