The Army of the Indian Moghuls: Its Organization and Administration c10.s1.10

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.