The Army of the Indian Moghuls: Its Organization and Administration c10.s1: I. Swords

The Army of the Indian Moghuls: Its Organization and Administration c10.s1

Language: English

I. Swords

c10.s1.1

As to the mode of carrying the sword, Fitzclarence, *Journal*, 69, describing some irregular horse in the Company's service (1817), says "they have a sort of foppery with respect to their sword-belts, which are in general very broad and handsomely embroidered; and, though on horseback, they wear them over the shoulder.” But the sword was not always carried in a belt hung from the shoulder. On plate 8 in B.M. Or. 375 (Rieu, 785), A‘zam Shāh carries his sword by three straps hanging from a waist-belt. The generic name of a sword was *tegh* (Arabic), *shamsher* (Persian) or *talwār* (Hindī). The Arabic word *saif* was also used occasionally. One kind of shortsword was called the *nīmchah-shamsher* (Steingass 1445). It was the weapon carried by Ibrāhīm Qulī Khān in 1137 H. (1725), when he made his attack on Ḥāmid Khan at the governor’s palace in Aḥmadābād (Gujarāt), *Mirāt-i-Aḥmadī*, fol. 179*a*. It is also to be found in the *Akbarnāmah*, Lucknow edition, ii, 225, second line. I have not seen in Indian works the word *palārak* used for a sword in *Mujmil-ut-tārīkh ba‘d Nādirīyah*, p. 110, line 3.

c10.s1.2

Names of the various parts are (B.M. N°. 6599 fol. 84*a*), *teghah*, blade, *nābah*, furrows on blade, *qabẓah*, hilt, *jāe-narela* (?), *sarnāl* or *muhnāl* and *tahnāl*, metal mountings of scabbard, *kamrsāl* (the belt?)¹, *bandtār* (?). The quality or temper of a blade was its *āb* (water) or *jauhar* (lustre). One name of the belt was *ḥamāil* (Steingass, 430, plural of *ḥimālat*); and Khair-ud-dīn, *‘Ibratnāmah*, i, 91, uses the word thus, in repeating the speech of one Daler Khān and another man to Shāh ‘Ālam (1173 H.), “*fidwī az waqte kih sipar o shamsher rā ḥamāil kardah-em, gāhe ba dushman-i-khūd pusht na namūdah*”: “Since we hung from our shoulders sword and shield never have we shown an enemy our back.” Another word that I have seen used for a sword-belt is *kamr-i-khanjar*, see Steingass 1049; also Budāonī, text, 441, Ranking 566.

c10.s1.3

¹ This is described in *Qanoone Islām*, app. XXVIII, as a belt worn by women, consisting of square metal tablets hinged together. I find it named in native authors as part of men’s equipment.

c10.s1.4

*Shamsher*. This word when used with a more specific meaning, was applied to the curved weapon familiar to us as the oriental sword, or as it is frequently called, the scimitar. It is purely a cutting weapon, as its shape and the small size of the grip sufficiently demonstrate.

c10.s1.5

*Dhūp*. There was a straight sword, adopted from the Dakhin, of which the name was *dhūp*; it had a broad blade, four feet long, and a cross hilt. It was considered an emblem of sovreignty and high dignity, and was therefore displayed on state occasions, being carried in a gorgeous velvet covering by a man who held it upright before his master. It also lay on the great man's pillow when he was seated in darbār, engaged in the transaction of public business. This kind of sword was conferred as a distinction upon successful soldiers, great nobles, or court favourites, (*Seir*, i, 549, note 54; i, 551, note 55; ii, 95, note 80; iii, 172, note 39). The *dhūp* was also spoken of as *‘aṣā-shamsher*, i.e. staff-sword (*Dānishmand Khān*, 22nd Rajab, 1120 H.). Instances of its being conferred are found in the same historian (22nd Ramaẓān, 1119 H., twice, and 22nd Rajab 1120 H., once). Mr. Egerton, p. 117, Nº. 527, note, quotes from the *Āīn-i-Akbarī*, “Dhoup, straight blade, used by most of the Deccanees.” I am unable to verify the reference; I cannot find the passage in Vol. I, (translation), and the word is not in Mr. Blochmann’s index.

c10.s1.6

*Khandā*. This weapon is Nº. 2 of the list on p. 112, *Āīn*, Vol. I; and from figure 2 on plate xii it would seem to be identical with the *dhūp*.

c10.s1.7

*Sirohī*. The *Ma’āsir-ul-Umarā*, iii, 152, tells us that these blades obtained their good repute from the work done with them in 1024 H. (1615), during a fight at Ajmer between Rājah Sūraj Singh, Rāthor, and his brother, Kishn Singh. “Whoever was struck on the head by these Indian blades was cleft to the waist, or if the cut were on the body, he was divided into two parts.” Egerton, 105, says this sword had “a slightly curved blade, shaped like that of Damascus.” There is no specimen in the India Museum. Hendley, “Memorials of the Jeypore Exhibition,” 1883, Vol. II, plate xxix, N°. 4, has a sword from the Alwar armoury, which he calls a *Shikārgah* or *Sirohī gaj bail* (?). The blade appears slightly lighter and narrower than that of the ordinary *talwār*. Evidently the name is obtained from the place of manufacture, Sirohī in Rājputānah, of which “the sword blades are celebrated for their excellence now as formerly,” Thornton, 874. The town is situated in Lat. 24° 59′, Long. 72° 56′, 360 miles S. W. of Āgrah.

c10.s1.8

*Patta*. This is a narrow-bladed, straight rapier, and is to be seen now chiefly when twirled about vigorously by the performers in a Muharram procession. It has a gauntlet hilt. The specimens in Egerton are N°. 402, 403, 404 (p. 110), 515 (p. 117) 643 (p. 131). There are figures of N°. 403 and 404 on p. 104 of his catalogue.

c10.s1.9

*Guptī*. In the *Āīn*, i, 110, this is N°. 3, and was a straight sword having a walking stick as its sheath, the name being from H. *gupt*, concealed. See also figure 3 on plate xii of the same volume. Egerton’s entries are N°. 516, 517, 518, 519 (p. 117), 641, 642 (p. 131). The head or handle in Blochmann’s figure shows that the sword-stick and the fakir’s crutch were closely allied in appearance, and might at times be united. The crutch is depicted in Egerton, p. 47, and again on plate xiii (opposite p. 126) N°. 639 (p. 131), which is however only of dagger length. One of these crutches played a conspicuous part in the battle of Jājau in June 1707, A‘zam Shāh, one of the contenders for the throne, whirling his crutch frantically, as he stood up on his elephant to urge on his troops. Jonathan Scott, II, part IV, 34, note 4, calls it “a short crooked staff, about three feet in length, not unlike a crozier, used by fakeers to lean on when they sit, and often by persons of rank as an emblem of humility.”

c10.s1.10

*Shields*. Along with the sword naturally comes the shield, the two being almost as closely connected as the arrow and the bow. A shield (A. *sipar*, H. *ḍhāl*) was inseparable from the sword as part of the swordsman's equipment. It was carried on the left arm, or when out of use, slung over the shoulder. The shield appears at Nos 47 and 48 in the *Āīn*, i, 111, and is shown on plate xiii as Nos 40 and 41. They were of steel or hide, generally from 17 to 24 inches in diameter. If of steel, they were often highly ornamented with patterns in gold damascening; if of hide, they had on them silver or gold bosses, crescents, or stars. Egerton in a note to Nº. 695 (p. 133) gives a description of two magnificent steel shields which once belonged to the emperor Bahādur Shāh (1707—1712). The kinds of hide used were those of the Sāmbhar deer, the buffalo, the nīlgau, the elephant, and the rhinoceros, the last being the most highly prized. Brahmans who objected to leather had shields made of forty or fifty folds of silk painted red and ornamented (Egerton, 111, note to Nº. 434). More about shields can be seen in the same work, pp. 47, 48, 49. The specimens in the Indian Museum are numerous, see Egerton pp. 111, 118, 134, 139. The curious snake-skin (*nāgphanī*) shield, Nº. 365 (p. 103), is not a Moghul weapon.

c10.s1.11

*Chirwah* and *Tilwah*. — According to the *Āīn*, Blochmann, i, 252, these were the shields carried by the *Shamsherbāz*, or gladiators, groups of whom always surrounded Akbar on the march, *Akbarnāmah*, (Lucknow edition), ii, 225, second line.

c10.s1.12

*Fencing Shields*. Following the *ḍhāl* or shield the *Āīn*, i, 111, has Nº. 49, the *kherah*, كهرہ, but there is no figure of it. I presume that this is the same word as گروہ, *girwah* (Shaks., 1695) or گروہ *garwah* (Steingass, 1081), both meaning a shield. I can find no word *kherah* in the dictionaries, but it might be *gherā*, घेरा, a round, a circle (Shakes. 1759), with allusion to the form of a shield. Again Nº. 50 *Pahrī*, (*Āīn*, i, 111) is described by Blochmann, p. xi, as a plain cane shield. It is shown as Nº. 42 on plate xiii. This must evidently be *Pharī*, फरी, Hindi for a small shield of cane or bambu (Shakes. 580). The quaint implement, *mārū* or *singauta*, made of a pair of antelope horns tipped with steel and united at the butt-ends, Egerton, p. 111 and p. 133, also the *sainti* (id. 118 and plate x), may be classed as parrying shields.