UNUSUAL TULWAR for COMMENT

[Kubur]

I have Indian blades with the same fullers...
Yes, Indians imitated European blades, nothing new.
If Tuaregs can do it, of course, Indians can do it too!
I agree with Mercenary, Firangi means nothing, just foreigner and the Indian swords called firangi have a basket hilt...

[kahnjar1]

Originally Posted by Kubur

I have Indian blades with the same fullers...
Yes, Indians imitated European blades, nothing new.
If Tuaregs can do it, of course, Indians can do it too!
I agree with Mercenary, Firangi means nothing, just foreigner and the Indian swords called firangi have a basket hilt...

What hilts are your fullered blades on? Do you have any blades like this with TULWAR hilts. If so could you please post some pics.

I was hoping that this thread would comment on the particular blade/hilt combination as I have not been able to find any other pics or reference to Tulwars like this.
Stu

[Jim McDougall]

My initial thought in seeing this example, I thought perhaps this was a Sudanese kaskara blade mounted in a tulwar hilt. However, while the crudely drawn central triple fullers resemble those on the blades commonly seen on these, the blade fans out toward the hilt, while kaskara blades remain uniform.

A 'straight' blade 'tulwar' (Indo-Persian hilt) is known in Hindu as 'sukhela', and to the south in Deccan as 'dhup' (Marathi). ("The Indian Sword", P.Rawson, 1969, p.30,p.90).Trying to categorize these, just as with most ethnographic weapons, by term, is usually pure folly.

The straight blade on these swords seems to have been regarded in many cases as for representations of authority, court officials, and often soldiers or warriors of high esteem....apparently the variation had some significance.

It would seem this blade is a copied version of possibly the Sudanese kaskara blades, as far as fullering that is. Interestingly, I have seen Indian swords with 'kaskara or Sudanese' blades, or actually those of the form which were exported heavily into Sudan from Europe. In some cases these were with 'tulwar' hilts, some 'pata' etc.
That would suggest there was enough diffusion and interaction with trade between these spheres to bring about these kinds of circumstances.

Thus, a dhup/sukhela sword with probably Indian made approximation of either a Sudanese blade or its European counterpart. The 'firangi' term is used only collectively to describe any sword with a 'foreign' blade, regardless of overall sword form.

[kahnjar1]

Hi Jim,
Thanks for your contribution. Much appreciated. Yes I would perhaps call this a Sukhela but any illustration I can find suggests that the Sukhela blade has paralel sides rather than tapered from the hilt as this blade is.
I am not (necessarily) trying to get a concise ID of this sword but simply to see if anyone else has (or has seen) this particular variant.
Stu

[Jim McDougall]

Hi Stu,
Understood, and the way I have understood, the terms 'sukhela' and 'dhup' are simply by language describing the same type sword, that is with basically straight blade rather than curved.
The 'variation' seems to be primarily blade oriented, and as blades came from so many sources, not to mention being remounted many times over working lives, it is hard to pinpoint.
Here are some of the examples of these found online, not much help, but illustrates the range of variant blades that were used.

Studying the swords and weapons of India is both daunting and exciting with so many conundrums involved.
Nice and interesting example Stu, as always.

Jim

[Kubur]

Originally Posted by kahnjar1

I was hoping that this thread would comment on the particular blade/hilt combination as I have not been able to find any other pics or reference to Tulwars like this.
Stu

To come back to your question Stu, the blade looks South Indian and the hilt North Indian.
Now is this combination done later in an "English lab" for sale?
an "Indian lab" for tourists with two old parts?
Or a geniune product from the 18th or 19th c.
Well I don't know...