[Nihl]

Hi all,

One big feature that I've noticed is present on a lot of south Indian arms and armor is a "beaded edge" that usually trails along the rim of the object. While my library is far from complete, all of the "classics" that I've read fail to actually describe the importance or the reason why this aesthetic element is included. Having recently caught up on my Elgood, unless I missed something, I can say for sure that even he doesn't explain the existence of this feature, aside from doing what every other author has done in stating that it designates an item as being south Indian.

When I turned to do a bit of internet research, what I was able to find was a connection with the beaded edge and south Indian architecture, however this link seems to be flimsy at best as - for the life of me - I am unable to find any examples of south Indian buildings with beaded edges on them. Plenty of examples of round-ish symbols or leaves lined up in a row, or feet from figures standing shoulder-to-shoulder, but no standalone beaded rims. I am aware that architecture is one of the bigger influences on hilt motifs, however, again, for the life of me I cannot find any examples of an architectural link between the two.

My only personal theory for this would that it might be somehow related to the importance of a string of pearls under a chhatri (umbrella/parasol) - something that could be represented as a vertical line of beads/circles - but as far as I'm aware the inclusion of a chhatri was mostly done on north Indian weapons, and wasn't incorporated into south Indian designs as much.

Again, I still have quite a bit of reading to do, so if some author somewhere has already explained the motif, I'd be very grateful in knowing who did so & in what publication. Otherwise, I can't find any explanation as to it's importance or why it is included so prominently in many south Indian arms. The pictures included are all examples of beaded edges on Indian weapons.