Ethnographic Arms & Armour - View Single Post

B.I · 24th August 2005, 12:19 AM

hi jens,
interesting to note that indians (boy thats general!) still class the khanda's length by an amount of 'hands' eg 10 hands in length etc. maybe this was the fingers, as quoted (4 fingers together equals a hand).
ths sort of information must be relatively easy to track down, as i'm sure a unit of measurement would be universal (ie not restricted to arms alone, and there are enough trading accounts of the time to find the term used again.

you quoted -

any sword is to be regarded auspicious which has the mark of an umbrella or a sivalinga

the Nujum al-Ulum is interesting as it is a rare survival of deccani manuscripts. it is interesting for a sultanate manuscript to revere both an 'infidel' symbol in the sivalinga (a hindu symbol, prevelant in the south) and an umbrella, supposed to be a symbol of the moghul emperor, even though they were of a sunni faith.
it goes to show that the religions of the day, although apposing, had respect for each other. this obviously makes the dating and opinion of 'indian' arms all the more harder, with such crossovers from diversly different states and religions. a sufi soldier (or leader) would happily possess a mughal blade, or even seek one out if it was so revered.

24th August 2005, 12:19 AM	#12
B.I Member Join Date: Jan 2005 Posts: 485	hi jens, interesting to note that indians (boy thats general!) still class the khanda's length by an amount of 'hands' eg 10 hands in length etc. maybe this was the fingers, as quoted (4 fingers together equals a hand). ths sort of information must be relatively easy to track down, as i'm sure a unit of measurement would be universal (ie not restricted to arms alone, and there are enough trading accounts of the time to find the term used again. you quoted - any sword is to be regarded auspicious which has the mark of an umbrella or a sivalinga the Nujum al-Ulum is interesting as it is a rare survival of deccani manuscripts. it is interesting for a sultanate manuscript to revere both an 'infidel' symbol in the sivalinga (a hindu symbol, prevelant in the south) and an umbrella, supposed to be a symbol of the moghul emperor, even though they were of a sunni faith. it goes to show that the religions of the day, although apposing, had respect for each other. this obviously makes the dating and opinion of 'indian' arms all the more harder, with such crossovers from diversly different states and religions. a sufi soldier (or leader) would happily possess a mughal blade, or even seek one out if it was so revered.