Old Indian Sword

[Miguel]

Originally Posted by Jim McDougall

Miguel,
Thank you so much for the personal response! That is most appreciated.
Not sure why you apologize for having imagination and images.....that is what this is all about!
I am glad you are pursuing research on this.....the references you note are of course the venerable and standard ones most used, and always serve as valuable benchmarks to set the course further.
I am inclined to agree with your very soundly reasoned ideas on this probably being Rajput, which though speculative seems most likely.

I am most curious about your reference to 'back curved' and not sure what sword you refer to which is Maratha straight most of length then curved or the tulwar called asir.....are these references from 'Paul' ?
Do you have access to "Indian Arms & Armour", G.N.Pant, 1980?

Very good notes on the research you have done thus far, and thank you for sharing these in detail. Often it seems the more I think I have learned, the more I realize I don't know thoroughly......so I can well relate to your comments on more research.

Very best regards,
Jim

Hi Jim,
Thanks for your reply, I have a correction to make concerning my comments re the back curved sword. I should have said that they were not adopted or used until the 15th and 16th centuries. By back curved I mean curved upwards like Shamshirs or Sabres, sorry for the confusion. With regard to the two Maratha back curved swords that I mentioned I found these in the book called Islamic Weapons Maghrib to Moghul by Anthony C Tirri which has a great selection of images of weapons from all over the Islamic world. The Ahir is an upward curving sword like a Talwar shown on page 313 Fig 232A and the sword that is straight for two thirds of its length before curving upwards is called a Surai and is shown on page 326 Fig 248A. Both these types are shown with basket hilts. Trusting that this helps.
Finally I would advise that I do not have access to the book you mention and would be obliged if you could let me know if it is still available.
Best regards
Miguel