As Jens has noted, there are tulwars which were actually produced without the disc pommel, and and I once handled one of these captured in a British cavalry action on plains near the Khyber c.1930. It is my perception that many Afghans were of much larger stature than many of the ethnic groups in India, and had distinctly larger hands. We have had many discussions regarding the typically smaller hilt configurations on many Indian swords to accomodate this , and I'm certain that disparate contentions remain.
Regardless, with discussions noting certain impairments in use of the Indo-Persian hilt tulwar if used in other than typically applied technique, it seemed possible to me that open hilted tulwars might have been produced in the north for Afghan use.
This is of course my opinion based on the example seen, and the Tirri examples, which interestingly are also shown as having 'lost' thier pommel discs. Without close examination it is hard to say that these had lost them.
With this tulwar shown, it appears to be of mid to perhaps latter 19th century with a hilt referred to by Pant as Udaipuri (Rajasthan) and of course, the large disc pommel is missing. The peaks mid grip, extended and almost rectangular langet without usual flueret and discoid quillon terminals are characteristic, as is the recurved knuckle bow.
The blade indeed appears Indian, and the interesting stamped mark shows the continued use of Indian bladesmiths of early European markings. This one is unusual though known to have often appeared with the familiar 'sickle' marks (aka eyelashes etc) associated with Genoan blades in the 16th-18th century, and widely copied by many European centers.
The marking itself closely resembles one shown in Wallace Collection (p.361, A710) north Italian mid 16th century and as noted often found with sickle marks, which are almost invariably found on Afghan paluoars, and certainly well known in India's northern blade making centers from 18th century onward. These markings are of the family of north Italian markings known as 'twig marks' usually with peaks top and bottom and on each side.
Best regards,
Jim
|