Sword: O.101-1879

Maker(s)

Maker: Unknown

Entities

• Sword
• khanda

Categories

• Weapons

Description

Of very unusual for with a small sword-like blade. The steel blade is thin, straight and double edged, of very flattened diamond section with long thin point. The hilt, of old Hindu basket form, comprises a figure-8 guard with cusps at the waist, angled across the centre, short quillons with globular terminals and langets with pierced lotus bud terminals. The guard is extended into a wide knucklebow decorated with incised lines. The grip is probably thin and of iron, but it is covered with the original padded fabric grip, which has been painted black. The pommel is a narrow, deep dish embossed with petals, and filled inside with black mastic obscuring the origins of a short curved finial.
There is a broad, almost flat dish inside which is a small dome with a four petalled washer and a short curved spike finial, ending in a flower bud. The hilt and blade are polished bright and pitted from earlier corrosion

Legal notes

Given by Robert Taylor, MA

Acquisition and important dates

Method of acquisition: Given (1879) by Taylor, Robert, MA

Dating

17th Century, Late-18th Century, Early#
Circa 1660 CE - 1740 CE

Note

I know no other example of a complete sword of this type from India, but the blade from a firanghi-type rapier in the Royal Armouries, no. XXVIS.264 is comparable.