The Army of the Indian Moghuls: Its Organization and Administration c10.s3: III. The Battle Axe
The Army of the Indian Moghuls: Its Organization and Administration c10.s3
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III. The Battle Axe
c10.s3.1
The battle-axe (*tabar*) will be found at Nº. 28 of the *Āīn*, i, 111 and on plate xii, figure Nº. 22. This figure shows a triangular blade with one broad cutting edge. When the head was pointed and provided with two cutting edges, the axe was called a *Zāghnol*, or crow’s beak (id. Nº. 30, and plate xii, fig. 24). A double headed axe, with a broad blade on one side and a pointed one on the other side of the handle, was styled a *Tabar zāghnol* (id. Nº. 32, and plate xii, fig. 26). An axe with a longer handle, called *Tarangālah*, was also in use (id. Nº. 33 and plate xii, fig. 27, see also Egerton plate i, Nº. 22).
c10.s3.2
Of the *Tabar* there are seven entries 375, 376, 377 (p. 108), 711, 712, 713 (p. 137) and 746 (p. 144). There is a figure of N°. 376 on plate x opposite p. 114. The shafts of these range from 17 inches to 23 inches in length; the heads measuring from 5 to 6 inches one way and 3 to 5 inches the other way. Some of the heads are crescent shaped, and one of the shafts is hollowed and contains daggers. I omit Egerton’s *Parusa* (p. 7) and *Venmuroo* (N°. 89, 90) as not being Moghul weapons. There is also a weapon styled *Basolah*, N°. 31 of the *Āīn* list, i, 111. The name sounds as if it were derived from the Hindī *basūlā*, a carpenter’s adze, but the figure, N°. 25, plate xii, looks more like a chisel than any other tool.
c10.s3.3
Silver axes highly ornamented were carried for display by the attendants in the hall of audience (Egerton, note to N°. 375, p. 108). These attendants were the *Yasāwal*, and Anand Rām calls the axes they carried *Chamchāq* (*Mirāt-ul-Iṣtilāḥ*, fol, 193*b*). Besides this form of the word, we find also *Chamkhāq*, *Chakhmāq*, *Chakhmāgh*, Steingass, 388, 399, “a battle axe fastened to the saddle.”