Ethnographic Arms & Armour - View Single Post

Jim McDougall · 28th July 2016, 04:23 PM

http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...hlight=zaghnal

My apologies Marcus, I misunderstood your comments and did not realize they were rhetorical.

As the title was directed at forum rules, I wanted to address the matter in a general sense concerning these situations, and meant the references regarding search features etc. to offer assistance to benefit other readers here who are not quite as familiar with our rules and scope.

You are a seasoned contributor here, and of course I know you are quite familiar with search features etc.

Some good entries so far, and I wanted to add the link above to a 2009 discussion which was remarkably comprehensive on these. It also well illustrates, to those reading, just how much data is within our archives!

What I drew from this discussion notes that these 'zaghnal' were it seems well known with the Rajputs, and are known as a weapon form early, in fact shown in the Ain I Akbari (as noted in "Islamic Arms and Armor of Mughal India", Dr. S. Haider, Lahore, 1991; p.235 and plate #30, xii, p24).
It seems they were primarily an armour breaking weapon, against helmets and armor as there are usually no cutting edges, just reinforced point.

The reference to the elephant I imagine goes to another hafted weapon of these regions, the bhuj, which is essentially a hafted knife and typically has an elephant head at the base of the blade.

There are references to these hafted weapons (known collectively as 'dab' in Rajasthan) being used in hamstringing, however that purpose would most likely be to the bhuj rather than the armor piercing zaghnol.

In comments it is noted that examples similar to that posted here by Marcus are most probably 19th to early 20th c. Traditional weapons were still used by cavalry in India into the 1930s.

Good tip by Gav, see if there is a knife in the handle. Also, these 19th-20th examples are typically assembled by screw systems.

28th July 2016, 04:23 PM	#10
Jim McDougall Arms Historian Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Route 66 Posts: 9,759	http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...hlight=zaghnal My apologies Marcus, I misunderstood your comments and did not realize they were rhetorical. As the title was directed at forum rules, I wanted to address the matter in a general sense concerning these situations, and meant the references regarding search features etc. to offer assistance to benefit other readers here who are not quite as familiar with our rules and scope. You are a seasoned contributor here, and of course I know you are quite familiar with search features etc. Some good entries so far, and I wanted to add the link above to a 2009 discussion which was remarkably comprehensive on these. It also well illustrates, to those reading, just how much data is within our archives! What I drew from this discussion notes that these 'zaghnal' were it seems well known with the Rajputs, and are known as a weapon form early, in fact shown in the Ain I Akbari (as noted in "Islamic Arms and Armor of Mughal India", Dr. S. Haider, Lahore, 1991; p.235 and plate #30, xii, p24). It seems they were primarily an armour breaking weapon, against helmets and armor as there are usually no cutting edges, just reinforced point. The reference to the elephant I imagine goes to another hafted weapon of these regions, the bhuj, which is essentially a hafted knife and typically has an elephant head at the base of the blade. There are references to these hafted weapons (known collectively as 'dab' in Rajasthan) being used in hamstringing, however that purpose would most likely be to the bhuj rather than the armor piercing zaghnol. In comments it is noted that examples similar to that posted here by Marcus are most probably 19th to early 20th c. Traditional weapons were still used by cavalry in India into the 1930s. Good tip by Gav, see if there is a knife in the handle. Also, these 19th-20th examples are typically assembled by screw systems. Last edited by Jim McDougall; 28th July 2016 at 04:55 PM.