Significance of Beaded Edges/Borders on South Indian Weapons?

[Nihl]

Hi all, sorry I can't post as often, I just have some things going on in my personal life currently. Hope you all can understand.

Addressing an earlier bit brought up by Jim, I was mostly concerned with it being related to architecture because, as I detailed in my OP, that was the only explanation I heard about online. I think that was a wild goose chase though.

Good job looking at the international filigree! I very much agree that we would have to find a firm date for when most beaded hilts came up though, in order to better determine when exactly it came in to fashion and whether it might be due to European influence. Personally I find the connection with rapiers to be rather hard to believe. Sure they're pretty looking, but I think if Indians truly wanted to copy rapier, they would do more than just copy the beaded aesthetic that occasionally appeared on them. Just my opinion though.

Once again though I find myself agreeing with Jim about it possibly evolving more naturally, passed down from earlier designs. Does anyone have any examples of this early Indian filigree? I can't say I've ever actually heard about there being any kind of fine decoration on these swords, outside of their pure sculptural value as objects.

[ariel]

Actually, Indians did copy European rapiers: recall Firangi and D- guards. They also valued European blades and guards, and combined them with their native sword parts. Arnachellum made a fortune making slightly mutated British hunting knives. And I am not even touching Chinese-inspired decorations and jade handles, Persian khahjars, Georgian kindjal blades, Ottoman yataghan blades, Turkish Palas, etc.

Oriental armorers followed fashions with abandon, and borrowed foreign ideas left and right, similar to their European colleagues adopting Oriental ideas. Eventually, militaries all over the world adopted virtually identical bladed weapons.

[Jim McDougall]

Nihl, no need to apologize, trust me I think most of us are with you, and the resounding drama of every day life takes precedence!
I like very much that you posed a most intriguing query here, and you also included your established research and line of thinking toward it. This set a valuable benchmark for discussion, which has for the most part developed very well.

As has been well addressed by Robert Elgood, the presence of architectural designs is well established in many Indian weapons and their decoration, as they have become religiously oriented in themselves. In this the designs and decoration often reflect temples, iconography and the naturally religious themes.


With this being the case, I think your effort to determine possible symbolism in this distinct style of decoration is well placed. The observations on similar use in other contexts and in other cultural spheres were I think simply to reflect the scope of this type decoration in considering outside influences.


As has been noted, the European influence is certainly feasible, and indeed highly effected Indian culture in many aspects of material culture. It is well known that European art, much of it in grimoires and herbals, became firmly emplaced in much Mughal art and design. With weapons, while trade blades became a commercial entity post contact, the influence of hilt designs, foremost that of the 'basket hilt' added to the khanda was profoundly notable.

With these khanda, termed 'Hindu basket hilt' (and further 'firangi' with foreign blade) some even had rapier blades, despite the fact that fencing and such European sword play had nothing to do with Indian techniques.


The influences of art, philosophy, religion etc. transcend any sort of boundaries, and with the ever present conditions of trade, colonialism and cultural expansion, are virtually inevitable.


Tradition and commemoration are typically what carries forth the use of earlier designs, style and such features from earlier periods within a particular culture. This is one of the great difficulties in assessing ethnographic arms in that the same forms have remained in use for centuries and often must be examined for highly nuanced and subtle clues in their character. That is what is so compelling here with this very valid query, and it is great to see the ideas and approaches at work.

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

Indian beadwork is well recorded in Indian jewellery going back to early Hindu beginnings and I have shown similar decorative style in Arms. what I can now add to the discussion are examples in Armour(A Vambrace circa mid 1600) and artwork (to help define the use of beads in art) beadwork therefor seems to have found a link to jewellery and traditional artwork so that the leap from there to arms and armour would seem a normal move involving simple pattern styles and accepted practice. Architecture is not so obvious (if it exists at all) perhaps because of the scale of the objects and the practicality of using beadwork on buildings simply isn't logical ..beadwork is by nature almost miniscule whereas buildings are in gigantic scale.
My Reference is India 1300 to 1900 A Met Museum Publication.