Could this be my first Tegha?

[Jim McDougall]

Originally Posted by Sikh_soldier

Hi everyone, I know its probably a long shot hoping it is a tegha
(especially after looking at past examples on oriental arms)

but i was only trying to prompt a conversation or debate regarding this piece, has no one any thing to say about it?

It does indeed sometimes take some time to get responses Sikh Soldier, perhaps everybody is checking notes and references

To me the term 'tegha' is much like many of the terms used in describing many ethnographic edged weapons. I have seen tulwars described as tegha which were simply tulwars, however with rather substantial blades compared to many examples which had blades from 27-28" blades to about 33". One with the tegha description had a blade almost 36" and width of about 1 3/4". It must be remembered that the British light cavalry sabre M1796 had a blade of these dimensions and with a huge hatchet point, with these blades highly favored to mount in tulwars in the 19th century.

The 'sacrificial' or 'executioner' examples with massive broad blades and talwar hilts seem to me to be ceremonial ( used in buffalo sacrifice, but the executioner perspective is a bit more vague)or in the highly decorated with brass figures etc, possibly votive or bearing type swords. It seems unclear whether these huge bladed forms would be classified as tegha.

Haider considers the tegha blade to be heavy and deeply curved, which seems to apply to your blade with more apparant parabolic curve, so I agree it probably could be classified as a tegha. To be more correct in its description , a talwar with a tegha type blade, would probably be correct.


Best regards,
Jim