The earliest known illustration of an Afghan Pulwar

[mariusgmioc]

Originally Posted by Turkoman.khan

I think the drawings made in 1810-1840 are just more primitive. The arms on them are shown more schematically.

Precisely what I was thinking!

The early drawings of Afghans focus on their dress and overall appearance and not necessarily on detail of accessories such as the sword they were wearing. And since the Indian Tulwar was much better known to the early European travellers and looked very similar to the Afghan Pulowar it might have been depicted instead of it for convenience and familiarity. Besides, the Tulwar was also quite popular with Afghans so the Pulowar might have been seen as an insignificant variety of Tulwar.

Just my speculation.