Straight bladed Tulwar

Jim McDougall · 5th May 2009, 05:14 PM

Hi Gav,
Interesting question! and just noticed this.

I think this goes to the difficulty in specific classifications and terminology.
The term 'tulwar' seems to be somewhat generic liguistically and generally refers to the familiar 'Indo'Muslim' hilt (as termed by Rawson) well known mostly in northwest India regions. The term itself derives from the Persian 'paluoar' which is now applied to the Afghan version of these hilts with drooping quillons.

In G.N.Pant ("Indian Arms and Armour", New Delhi, 1980, p.104), it is noted regarding the talwar blade that, "...it includes practically all kinds of slightly curved blades and they vary enormously in size, curvature and quality".

It is futher discussed that the talwar was considered the Muslim sword 'par excellence' , which refers to its prevalence in the Mughal sphere in India.

Rawson ( "The Indian Sword", Copenhagen, 1967) notes that the straight blade was preferred in Central and southwest India with the Marathas.
While straight blades were used by these tribes, and to the north with the Rajput use of the khanda/firangi and other instances of these largely basket hilted straight blade swords, there are always of course variations.

Pant (op.cit. p.82, fig. 170) does show a line drawing of a tulwar type hilt with open upward swept knuckleguard, mounted on a clearly straight double edged khanda type blade. There is no mention of this illustration as a type, but appears with text discussing the firangi and khanda, therefore may be considered a khanda with this style hilt.

Since sword fighting techniques of the northwest with primarily Mughals, Sikhs and Rajputs using the talwar favoring slashing and draw cuts prevail, it would seem unusual for a straight blade to be mounted on a talwar hilt.
This would not preclude the fact that the Rajputs, with perplexingly mixed allegiances with these and other groups at various times, used both the khanda as well as the talwar.
Either this application in Rajput use, or perhaps an anomaly of singular preference might explain the combination, but the straight blade on talwars as far as I can recall seems unlikely. I will say that I have seen examples of tulwar hilts mounted with kaskara blades, but again, not a common occurrence.

All the best,
Jim

5th May 2009, 05:14 PM	#2
Jim McDougall Arms Historian Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Route 66 Posts: 10,192	Hi Gav, Interesting question! and just noticed this. I think this goes to the difficulty in specific classifications and terminology. The term 'tulwar' seems to be somewhat generic liguistically and generally refers to the familiar 'Indo'Muslim' hilt (as termed by Rawson) well known mostly in northwest India regions. The term itself derives from the Persian 'paluoar' which is now applied to the Afghan version of these hilts with drooping quillons. In G.N.Pant ("Indian Arms and Armour", New Delhi, 1980, p.104), it is noted regarding the talwar blade that, "...it includes practically all kinds of slightly curved blades and they vary enormously in size, curvature and quality". It is futher discussed that the talwar was considered the Muslim sword 'par excellence' , which refers to its prevalence in the Mughal sphere in India. Rawson ( "The Indian Sword", Copenhagen, 1967) notes that the straight blade was preferred in Central and southwest India with the Marathas. While straight blades were used by these tribes, and to the north with the Rajput use of the khanda/firangi and other instances of these largely basket hilted straight blade swords, there are always of course variations. Pant (op.cit. p.82, fig. 170) does show a line drawing of a tulwar type hilt with open upward swept knuckleguard, mounted on a clearly straight double edged khanda type blade. There is no mention of this illustration as a type, but appears with text discussing the firangi and khanda, therefore may be considered a khanda with this style hilt. Since sword fighting techniques of the northwest with primarily Mughals, Sikhs and Rajputs using the talwar favoring slashing and draw cuts prevail, it would seem unusual for a straight blade to be mounted on a talwar hilt. This would not preclude the fact that the Rajputs, with perplexingly mixed allegiances with these and other groups at various times, used both the khanda as well as the talwar. Either this application in Rajput use, or perhaps an anomaly of singular preference might explain the combination, but the straight blade on talwars as far as I can recall seems unlikely. I will say that I have seen examples of tulwar hilts mounted with kaskara blades, but again, not a common occurrence. All the best, Jim