An Odd Indian Sword for Identification and Comment

[CharlesS]

Thanks so much for your attempts at help here guys! Most appreciated. I would not be surprised at all if the script was Urdu....I would be a little more surprised if it were Farsi.

The construction of the sword seems Indian through and through to me. It is the decorative motifs that confound me.

[Jim McDougall]

Actually I think the suggestions of Georgian influence are well placed here, as well as the nod toward Hyderabad. The Hyderabad work does often incorporate the rosette in a rather linear fashion with the repousse silver work hilt, and scabbard mounts.
It is important to note the predominance of Mughal courts in India, and profoundly of course in the north in areas now Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Mughal courts favored Persian and Sh'ia culture and of course they followed the Faith, and various kinds of birds were often in their decorative motifs.

The shamshir of course was one of the highly prized swords of the Mughal courts, and in Indian parlance they were termed 'tulwar' regardless that they were of course called differently in contexts outside the Indian sphere.

I am also curious on the block forte on what otherwise would be a regular wootz shamshir blade.

I am wondering if perhaps this might be a diplomatically oriented sword under British auspices in the Raj. The deviation in the cartouches, applied somewhat unusually it would seem, may indeed be Urdu, the lingua francia in the northwest regions as mentioned.

The birds are unique and need to look further into that as far as Mughal motif.
The use of brass is unusual and again ends toward possible western influence in the sword.

[CharlesS]

Thanks Jim. There is no brass in this sword's hilt, as was suggested by Ariel. It is chiseled steel with the raised areas gilded.

The block at the forte that envelops the blade is a somewhat typical feature on Indian swords that have been remounted or 'refitted'. It likely suggests that the blade and hilt were not 'born together' and in this case I think it may be the marriage of an older blade to later fittings.

Just a thought.

Also, the new book by Robert Hales shows a couple of examples of the two cranes or herons in decorative motifs, but naturally the examples in his book of fine arms are much better executed than the one here.

Thanks for your thoughts. I always look forward to your insights.

[Jim McDougall]

Oops! You're absolutely right Charles, looks like I really bought that one! of course it isn't brass, and not sure how I thought it was. Also a bit of a red herring was the suggestion that Georgian swords did not use brass, and I did not realize that we were actually considering that this sword was British. In fact many Georgian officers swords were indeed in brass, typically gilt. The relief work on this hilt strongly suggests Bidri work, which falls nicely in place with the Hydrabad associations as the region known for this dramatic gold with blackened background is geographically close.

Thank you for the observation on the ricasso 'block' which well explains the feature and possible refitting of an older blade.

After some thought and in looking at this hilt form, it is indeed of Persian form and recalls similarly formed solid hilts of the Deccan from 17th century and later, but which usually have flueret style quillon terminals and often knuckleguards. In the southern India preference, these are often however in brass.

With the strong diplomatic and cultural ties between northwest Indian regions and Deccani, the diffusion of many weapons and their features are often seen .

In particular I recall a shamshir hilted tulwar which had a solid steel hilt in loosely this form but quite plain, knuckleguard and with the typically seen tulwar style langet and Ottoman influenced quillon terminals, again as on most tulwars of Indo-Persian hilt with disc pommel.
What was fascinating was that it was mounted with what was distinctly a British M1788 light cavalry sabre blade, and with koftgari decorative panel at the forte.

This brings to mind once again the hybridization of these arms between India and Georgian Great Britain, and the importance of both diplomatic and award swords often presented at Royal durbars.

Returning to the potential Urdu in the cartouche, though this language was primarily associated with the northwest in India, it was also present in the courts of Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan in the Deccan.

The heron or crane images in the motif remain a puzzle, but it is known that Mughal favor of botanicals and varying animals and birds in motif is very much part of their decorative art in their material culture. These kinds of allegorical and symbolic depictions are typical in Sh'ia artistic context, such as the Simorgh on many blades .

Absolutely magnificent sabre!! and hopefully more ideas will come in. I think your observations regarding Napoleonic influences are well placed. The French were prominently placed in advisory situations in Deccani courts in those times, and it is reciprocally interesting to see the sabres for French officers in 'oriental' style as well.

[AJ1356]

Charles,
Can you post a bigger/better picture of the cartouche?

[CharlesS]

Hopefully this will help.

[AhmedH]

Originally Posted by CharlesS

Hopefully this will help.

Dear CharlesS,

I'm very sorry for posting the above photo to an Urdu speaking guy without your permission. Please do not be angry, nor misunderstand me. I've tried my best to decipher the inscriptions, but the above posting that I've submitted shows my limitations regarding this script.

Please accept my apologies, Sir. Thanks a lot in advance.

-Ahmed-