The 4 letter "B"-word

Jim McDougall · 11th February 2012, 11:39 PM

I forgot to mention, I am inclined to doubt that the bhuj would have been thrown, at least as a practice, as it would no longer be in hand for its continued use. Naturally, in the heat of battle anything might happen, but I dont think this would have normally been done.
As Ariel points out, it would be doubtful that all of these examples could have been from the same shop or smith, but as I mentioned, if the examples match up accordingly to indicate the same casting mold, then obviously.
It is interesting that these forms had apparant origins in Sind to the north of the Rajasthan and Gujerat areas in which they predominate. The slightly recurved blade of the bhuj is remarkably similar to spearheads on weapons in the south, of forms seen there and in Sinhala. As always it is intriguing to try to interpret directions of diffusion and influence based on these similarities but at this point I thought it simply worthy of note.
As for the zaghnol, I have always found the potential for association to the bronze age dagger axe of China compelling, and considered the trade routes along the Silk Roads likely for diffusion. However, there is an enormous chronological gap and no reliable line of development I am aware of to do other than presume association simply by nature of the form.

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11th February 2012, 11:39 PM	#5
Jim McDougall Arms Historian Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Route 66 Posts: 10,196	I forgot to mention, I am inclined to doubt that the bhuj would have been thrown, at least as a practice, as it would no longer be in hand for its continued use. Naturally, in the heat of battle anything might happen, but I dont think this would have normally been done. As Ariel points out, it would be doubtful that all of these examples could have been from the same shop or smith, but as I mentioned, if the examples match up accordingly to indicate the same casting mold, then obviously. It is interesting that these forms had apparant origins in Sind to the north of the Rajasthan and Gujerat areas in which they predominate. The slightly recurved blade of the bhuj is remarkably similar to spearheads on weapons in the south, of forms seen there and in Sinhala. As always it is intriguing to try to interpret directions of diffusion and influence based on these similarities but at this point I thought it simply worthy of note. As for the zaghnol, I have always found the potential for association to the bronze age dagger axe of China compelling, and considered the trade routes along the Silk Roads likely for diffusion. However, there is an enormous chronological gap and no reliable line of development I am aware of to do other than presume association simply by nature of the form.