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Originally Posted by Jim McDougall
This is brilliant research Ibrahiim!!! and I admire your tenacity in plowing through all of these references. It is well noted that the term nimcha is present at a much earlier date than we had realized in Indian context.
While we know the sword itself with the distinctive hilt system with downturned quillons was known in the early 17th century, and perhaps even earlier in accord with Italian hilts similar in the latter 16th (North , 1975)..these were believed in the Arab sphere.This information gives us a better idea of this form in Indian context.
It is more than a conundrum trying to discern the direction of diffusion with these various forms and their features and elements as provenance and depictions are limited at best. Even then they are subject to scrutiny. It is difficult to determine from narratives and records exactly what these swords described actually looked like, as we have encountered many times with 'katar'; 'tegha; and a number of other descriptive terms. Still, the presence of this term and its earliest use referring to a kind of sword is most important.
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Thank you Jim, My post at 31 above mentions Quote" The generic name of a sword was tegh (Arabic), shamsher (Persian) or talwar (Hindi). The Arabic word s8aif was also used occasionally. One kind of shortsword was called the nzmchah-8samsher (Steingass 1445). It was the weapon carried by Ibrahim Quli Khan in 1137 H. (1725), when he made his attack on Hamid Khan at the governor's palace in Ahmadabad (Gujarat), Mirat-i-Ahmadi, fol. 179a. It is also to be found in the Akbarndmah, Lucknow edition, ii, 225, second line".Unquote. This may be quite relevant in terms of the word Nimcha although it describes it as misspelled as nzmchah-8samsher..it probably means Nimcha-Shamshiir...Remembering that the original script was done in the Persian language;I think this is important since a lot of Baluch words come from Persian and since a third of their country lies in Iran the diffusion of artifacts and linguistics is clear.
It is further interesting that what appears to be a short form of Shamshiir appears on the Buttin charts but without a specific name. I agree that the word Nimcha more likely spread across the region probably via India via trade and war and although we find it odd... and confused because of the North Africa style (perhaps incorrectly attributed with the same name) the Akbarnama seems to be shining a light on the origin of the term likely to reach into the realms of Persian history..and giving a clue as to why the Baluch mercenaries operating on the Zanj had a weapon called
Nimcha in their armoury.
For interest the Butin Chart with the 1010 exhibit bottom left... Is this the Nimcha-Shamsheer refered to in the Akbarnama?
Regards,
Ibrahiim al Balooshi.