The Antiquities of Orissa v1.c10.381

v1.c10.381

**Swords :** The most important weapon of this class, however, is the sword. Its oldest forms are shewn in Illustrations Nos. 175 and 176, taken from two copper weapons in the Asiatic Society's Museum. Their history is not known, but apparently they are the oldest Indian metal arms that have been preserved to our time. Both of them are double-edged, and ribbed in the middle, to lighten the weight and at the same time to give them sufficient strength : neither has a guard or quillon above the hilt : but the second has two quillons in the place of the pummel, and the first only one. The swords are thick and heavy, and must have been very inconvenient to use. The edges of both are in places jagged from having been repeatedly struck upon some hard substance. It is impossible to say if the old Vedic swords were of this shape ; but both at Sāñcī and Bhuvaneśvara forms very like it, but with somewhat better handles, are not uncommon. (Illustration No. 181). At the latter place, the ordinary Indian sabre, the *asi* of Sanskrit writers, whence probably the *acinaces* of the Romans, is common ; it was generally worn on the left side, and, not as among the Greeks and Romans, on the right side. Its blade is short and curved, but not quite so much as that of the scimitar. It is single-edged, except near the point, where it is sharp on both sides. Its handle is provided with quillons and pummel, rarely also with a guard. At Sāñci there is a straight broad sword in a scabbard, very like a Scotch claymore ; and straight swords like the navy cutlass are also met with at Bhuvaneśvara (Illustrations Nos. 182 and 183). But the most important instrument of the sword class at the latter place is the *khaṇḍā*, a heavy, broad, single-edged sword with a turned-up point, something like a Chinese sabre-knife. It was the favourite weapon, the weapon of the goddess Durgā in her different manifestations. In the present day it is used for sacrificial purposes, being too heavy for warfare. It is always carried in the hand, never slung from the waist. A modification of it, called *dhūp*, was for some time the ordinary offensive arm of the Bengal *pāik*. The Mahrattas called their long, straight broadsword by the name of *Khaṇḍā*, and in Duff's *History of the Mahrattas* there is a drawing of the famous Khāṇḍārājā, or “King of Khāṇḍās”, of the great patriot Śivāji; its counterpart is frequently seen in Orissan sculptures (Illustrations, Nos. 179 and 180). In the temple of Gauri at Bhuvanesvara, there is a double-bladed straight sword; but it was probably a fancy weapon, not of much actual use (Illustration No. 178).