The Army of the Indian Moghuls: Its Organization and Administration c10.s2.1

c10.s2.1

This formidable-looking weapon, the mace (*gurz*), usually formed part of the panoply of a Moghul warrior, at any rate if he were of any considerable rank. It appears as N°. 25 in the *Āīn* list, i, 111, and varieties of it are entered under N°. 26 (*shashbur*) and N°. 29 (*piyāzī*). Blochmann gives no figure of the latter, N°. 29, and from his remarks on p. x he seems a little doubtful as to what it was. The *gurz* is shown in figure 23, plate xii, of the *Āīn* as a short-handled club with three large round balls at the end. Another kind, the *shashbur*, or lung-tearer ¹, figure 21, has a single head, of a round shape; and from Egerton, 23, plate i, N°. 35, I should suppose that it was made up of semi-circular, cutting blades arranged round a centre. Of the *gurz*, or mace proper, there are three examples in the Indian Museum. N°. 466 (p. 115 and plate x) is 2 feet 7 inches long, with a many bladed double-head, that is one head above the other; N°. 574 (p. 123 and plate x) has a globular head of 3 inches in diameter and a shaft of steel gilt, length 2 feet 2 inches; N°. 616 (p. 130) is 2 feet 2 inches long and has a steel shaft with a six-bladed head. Other weapons of a similar kind named by Egerton are the *Dhara*, the *Garguz* and the *Khandlī-Phānsī*. The *Dhara*, N°. 468 (p. 115), has a six bladed head and octagonal steel shaft; it is 2 feet long, and came from Kolhāpūr. Of the *garguz* there are four specimens. Nos 373 and 374 (p. 108 and plate x) have eight-bladed heads and basket hilts, one is 2 feet 7 inches and the other 2 feet 8 inches long; Nº. 467 (p. 115) is 7-bladed with basket hilt, length 2 feet 4 inches; Nº. 469 (p. 115) is eight-bladed with a similar hilt, length 2 feet 10 inches. The *Khundlī Phānsī*, Nº. 470 (p. 115 and plate x), is 19 inches long, has a head of open scroll work, and is probably one of the *Bairāgī* crutches already referred to. *Phānsī* means a noose in Hindi, but I do not see the appropriateness of the name here, nor do I know what *Khundlī* can mean.