Monstrous Indian Sword

[B.I]

did your friend decide to keep it himself
nothing worse than a collector/dealer as he will only sell things that he doesnt like himself! personally, i prefer someone that will sell his right arm for a profit as at least you get a chance for the good stuff.
appologies for the accusations

[Valjhun]

Yes, you're right Brian, but the worst thing is maybe that at the end it's me the seller who sometime sells his "mistakes", well for a profit at least.


Now, about that sword, what do you think about its practical implementation?

[Rick]

If I might offer an observation in a somewhat humorous light ; when you get down to the split the blade looks 'too light to fight , and too thin to win'.

I would think that if one were lucky enough to get a blade trapped in the split area and tried to twist it out their opponent's hand they might well end up with two very unaligned points ; the area (IMO) lacks 'beef'.

I just wonder if this is an old hilt married to a newer blade and meant to be brought back from Indja with a Britisher during the late 19th .

As a matter of fact I'm doubting any of this piece is "17th C."

[B.I]

hi,
again, purely speculative and only an opinion. i have handled a few of these and they are of a type. most of them had similar basket hilts, so i dont feel its a marriage (unless evidence hints that way). also, if you ignore the blade, and judge the hilt, it seems late 18thC and not any earlier. tirri was not privy to any information past personal opinion, and his opinion is as valid as mine, but i just dont agree with it (the nature of speculation).
if it werent for the hilt i would think it a 19thC ceremonial piece. the hilt form hints at an earlier age. i dont find it plausable that a collection of these all had their hilts changed in a similar way, so i am going with the assumption that if i feel the hilt is 18thC, then the blade is probably of a same age.
even with this age, i still feel it was of a ceremonial origin. duplicating an opinion of what a 'holy' sword looked like hints at this, as i dont feel that battle asthetics would be sacrificed for a holy look.
i cant judge martial aspects, as i have never held an interest or opinion on this, and others are more suited to do so. i dont hold to opinions on the split or hole being created as a sword catcher as this thought process doesnt exist on any other swords of this culture, so why this one?
the hilt is southern but i cant think of which region would produce such a weapon. the presence of the split indicates an islamic nature. it is not deccani at all, so which culture embraced islam in the south. a mystery. maybe it is maharathan and the split being a zulfigar is misleading. or, maybe they are from a part of the south that embraced islam, but were not powerful enough to leave an imprint on history. we too easily assume an origin of known cultures, and ignore the smaller, less distinct ones.
i put this type of weapon in the same catgegory as huge teghas (with a t-section back-edge) ie made for a use other than fighting.
they dont exist in large numbers so it was not a 'fashionable' weapon.
sorry i cant offer more.

[Jim McDougall]

This sword is an extremely handsome example that seems, as Brian notes, one of a number that have appeared over the years with this same type of bifurcated, serrated blade and mounted in khanda hilts. I agree with him in his assessment of probably late 18th century on the hilt, and that the blade seems contemporary with it. I have always been inclined to consider these of ceremonial or 'parade' form, and unlikely to have been intended for combat. With reference to the lengthy bifurcation in the blade and the huge hole at is root, I would consider the integrity of the blade for combat highly compromised. While the concept of a practical purpose for this unusual form of blade and the split with large circle at its base, especially as a blade catcher is not likely to have been its intention, the observation is not an unusual one. Over the years many weapons researchers have tried to discover the practical purposes of such deliberate and unusual features such as notches, hooks and openings in blades and none have been proven feasible for catching blades in combat. Primarily, the chances of even accidentally catching a blade in one of these strategically places blade features is almost nil, then consider trying to connect the opponents blade into the notch or whatever in the heat of combat. Even if sword to sword combat did occur, which was atypical in these regions, it would be incredibly difficult to accomplish.

As far as the appearance of this bifurcated blade, believed to represent the Sacred Sword Zulfikar, it is indeed interesting to see these mounted in the hilts known typically as Hindu basket hilts, or Khanda. It would seem quite possible that this would be incongruous, however it is known that the Rajputs, who of course were Hindu and strongly favored the khanda, were often in the service of the Mughals. Possibly this may have some plausible association to these seemingly ceremonial, parade or possibly palace guard swords. The serrations on the blade seem to have particular associations to other khanda hilted swords with 'nagan' features such as inflated blade profiles said to represent the hood of the cobra, as well as the undulating or wavy blades. Possibly these variations may have derived from these forms, with the addition of the features of the blade of Zulfikar.

The serrations on Indian swords are mentioned in Pant (p.56-57), where he notes khanda hilts, and serrated zig zag blades and notes further that these swords were used against armor, but found unsuitable for such use by the soldiers, and abandoning their use by late 17th c. AD. Although such use in combat appears to have ceased, such dramatically featured blades would serve well in impressive appearance in court or parade use, and probably did in these courts well into the 19th century.

I was gonna make this 2 cents worth but probably spent a nickel!!!
Anyway, It really is a beautiful piece and probably has some fascinating history, even if not a combat weapon.

Best regards,
Jim