Weapons with double curved blades from India, Sudan and... Penza
The inscriptions on the blades... They could tell a lot if... in our same local history museums, their employees would have thought to invite someone who knows Arabic to read them. And who among us knows him? The inscription on the blade of one of the scimitars from the collection of the Penza Regional Museum of Local Lore. Author's photo
“Give me the case,” I said, “for I am an outcast among my family and my saber is wet with the blood of my cousin.”
"Kim." R. Kipling
"Kim." R. Kipling
History weapons. In Rudyard Kipling's novel "Kim" it is not said with what kind of saber the old man, who served the government during the days of the Rebellion as a young native officer, hacked to death his cousin. The main thing is that he hacked to death, fulfilling his duty to the commander-sahib. However, it can be assumed, and quite conclusively, that such a saber was a talwar - a traditional Indian saber, although translated from Sanskrit this word means “sword”. Oh-oh, what a wonderful weapon it was - a blade made of wutz - cast damask steel, and gold or silver trim koftgari - a small inlaid pattern across the entire surface of the metal parts of the handle and crosshair. Moreover, the hilt of the talwar was very unusual: it had an obligatory thickening in the middle and a pommel in the shape of a round disk with a dome-shaped protrusion in the middle, from which a curved pin with a ball at the end often protruded, which served as an original continuation of the handle. In general, there were many similar forms, and each of them had its own name.
Very beautiful inscription, isn't it? Just what does it mean?
They wore the talwar on a belt or on a sling, throwing it over the shoulder. Its appearance dates back to the 13th century, but it gained the greatest popularity in Northern India during the Mughal era and enjoyed it until the mid-19th century. It was the favorite weapon of the Rajputs from Rajputana.
In this photo, not only the inscription is clearly visible, but also the characteristic curve of the scimitar blade...
Most Westerners call this Indian saber "Tulwar" and classify it as a sword (often spelled "Talwar Sword" or "Tulwar Sword"). The name is believed to be derived from the Sanskrit word "Taravari". But in Russian pronunciation and spelling, a soft sign is added to this name. The Talwar could be used by both cavalry and infantry. Interestingly, both the blade and the hilt were often decorated with inscriptions, which today not only increase the value of each such “sword”, but also contain information that would otherwise hardly ever become known.
The inscriptions on the blades are made using notch technology: recesses are made on the blade into which brass, copper or gold wire is driven and polished along with the metal surface of the blade
As a rule, on the blades there is an appeal to Hindu deities if the owner was a Hindu, or to Allah if he was a Muslim, as well as the name of the owner of the “sword” and the year of its manufacture. There are also regional variants of the ornamental handle. For example, the Lahore hilts are known for having a particular style of gold overlay; flowers and tendrils. In addition, they are characterized by the shape of the handle in the form of a thick vase and the inscription in Punjabi (Sikh language).
For some reason, this scimitar is precisely dated to 1738. Maybe it was written on it somewhere in Arabic? The handle is made of bone, trimmed with silver. But the work is rough...
Another scimitar from the collection of the Penza Regional Museum of Local Lore, and also with a handle of very rough workmanship and, moreover, poorly repaired at the time. But here’s the problem: the master who could restore it cannot do this because he does not have the appropriate certificate. But he can’t get it, because he can’t restore anything for testing. Sending this scimitar for restoration to Moscow is very expensive and the museum simply cannot afford it. Such a vicious circle on a local scale turns out... Although this problem is typical for all regional museums in Russia
However, what interests us most is not the inscriptions or even the unusual hilt of this saber itself (although a number of VO readers asked questions specifically about the hilt), but the blade of the talvar. There are 10 types of Indian blades: khanda, patissa, sosun patta, katti, kirach, sirohi, tegha, tulwar and golia or shamshir. The most popular among them are three types. Shamshir is a Persian cutting blade, which we wrote about in the previous material, but with a “pot-bellied” Indian handle attached to it. By the way, the very name “golia” means “circle”, which directly indicates the curvature of the shamshir blade.
The handa is a truly double-edged sword with a basket hilt and a guard, often lined with velvet on the inside. The blade is always straight and widening towards the tip. It is considered the oldest example of Indian edged weapons, appearing in the 2nd century AD. Sirohi has a light blade with a slight bend. The tegha, on the contrary, has a very wide curved blade and is believed to have been most often used as an execution weapon.
But today we will be most interested in the blade sosun pata (translated from Urdu as “lily flower”)... After all, in fact, this is a real scimitar, since its blade has “sabers” about a meter long, and you can imagine how powerful the blows could have been inflicted on her!
Blade sucker patta (1771-1799). The blade is curved forward, single-edged, with two narrow fullers. The splints are long and bulb-shaped. The pommel has the shape of a disk with a central dome and a curved spike. The spike is broken and repaired. A wide protective bow is attached to the guard and pommel. Attached to the inside of the guard and bow is a red velvet cushion lined with leather. The handle is covered with durable fabric or leather. Blade length: 775 mm. Total length: 963 mm. Weight: 1,285 kg. British Royal Arsenal, Leeds
So the scimitar shape of the blade was characteristic not only of ancient swords such as mahaira, kopis and the same eastern scimitars, but also of India and Nepal, where not long, but short blades, but also of reverse curvature - kukri, spread. There was already an article about them in VO in 2016: To kill something prettier: just kukri ... Everything was described there in detail, and it is easier to re-read it than to give examples from it in this material. We’ll just point out that examples of edged weapons with a reverse curved blade were not at all uncommon; they were used very widely in many countries, and the matter was not limited to scimitars alone.
The nine-inch long kukri is the typical kukri of the Nepalese Gurkhas. Author's photo
Well, now we will tell you about another interesting dagger with a reverse curvature of the blade, and a very peculiar and whimsical shape - the dagger of the Hadendoua tribe.
Here it is - a dagger of the Hadendoua tribe! Externally, this weapon has an X-shaped handle and a moon-shaped front part of the blade with double-sided sharpening. Such daggers were used in Sudan in the 16th-19th centuries, as well as in neighboring countries. Penza Regional Museum of Local Lore. Author's photo
The British had a chance to encounter these weapons in 1898 at the Battle of Omdurman. Then the Hadendowa used such daggers to tear the tendons of British horses and camels. In general, daggers of this form were also used by other Sudanese tribes, but they are always associated with the Hadendoua tribe. Usually warriors wore this dagger in their belt or on their shoulder (usually the left), to which it was attached with leather straps. Historians associate the hadendowa dagger with the Indian chilanum dagger and Celtic daggers. In reality, this could have taken place, since trade ties existed between these regions already in ancient times. But how can this be installed now? Yes, in principle, no way, since we don’t have a “time machine” at our disposal, and we can make any assumptions. There is, for example, another assumption that this dagger came from the Arab dagger jambia, and it acquired an X-like handle already in Africa...
On the ricasso of the hadendoua dagger from the collection of the Penza Regional Museum of Local Lore, an Arabic inscription embossed on it is clearly visible. I wonder what it could mean?
There is also an inscription on the opposite side, but there are no inscriptions on the blade itself
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