The Army of the Indian Moghuls: Its Organization and Administration c10.s4: IV. Spears
The Army of the Indian Moghuls: Its Organization and Administration c10.s4
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IV. Spears
c10.s4.1
The usual generic name used for spears of all kinds was the Arabic word *sinān*, pl. *asnān*, Steingass, 60, 698. The head or point was called *sunain*, *Mirāt-i-Aḥmadī* 176*a*, Steingass, 704; and the butt was the *bunain*, Steingass, id. There were several varieties of this class of weapon. The cavalry, however, seem to have confined themselves to the use of the lance (*nezah*), and the other kinds were used by foot soldiers and the guards surrounding the emperor’s audience hall. There is also some evidence for the use, at any rate among the Mahrattas, of a javelin or short spear, which was thrown (Journal As. Soc. Bengal, XLVIII, 1879, p. 101). The kinds of spear mentioned in the *Āīn-i-Akbari*, i, 112, are five the *Nezah*, N°. 20, *Barchhah*, N°. 21, *Sānk*, N°. 22, *Sainthī*, N°. 23, and *Selarah*, N°. 24.
c10.s4.2
*Nezah*. This is the cavalry lance, a small steel head with a long bambu shaft. Steingass, 1442, has *Nezah* “a short spear, demi-lance, javelin, dart, pike.” But this is not borne out by the usage of Indian writers, who by this word intend a long-shafted spear. It appears in the *Āīn*, i, 111, as N°. 20, and is shown at N°. 16 of plate xii. *Bhālā* I take to be only the Hindī equivalent for *Nezah*. Shakespear, 386, says *Bhālā* is from Sanskrit भल्ला, a spear about 7 cubits or 10 1/2 feet long, a lance with a narrow head. Including *Nezah*, *Bhālā* and spears (unclassed), I find nine entries in W. Egerton, vizt. 463 (p. 115) 606, 607, 608, 609, 610, 611, 612 two (p. 130). Of these one has a small head and long bambu shaft; another a palmwood shaft and small triangular head; four have bambu shafts 12 to 15 feet in length, with heavy bossed butts and small heads; N°. 611, length 8 feet, head 16 inches; N°. 612 (two), length 9 feet and 9 feet 3 inches, head 21 inches.
c10.s4.3
The *nezah* or lance was so prominent a part of the Mahratta equipment that one writer Mḥd Qāsim, Aurangābādī, (*Aḥwāl-ul-Khawāqīn*, fol. 201*a* and elsewhere) instead of the usual “accursed enemy” (*ghanīm-i-laʿīn*) calls them *nezah-bāzān*, “lance-wielders.” He thus describes, fol. 205*b*, their mode of using the lance: “They so use it that no cavalry can cope with them. Some 20,000 to 30,000 lances are held up against their enemy, so close together as not to leave a span between their heads. If horsemen try to ride them down, the points of the spears are levelled at the assailants and they are unhorsed. While the cavalry are charging them, they strike their lances against each other, and the noise so frightens the horses, that they turn round and bolt.”
c10.s4.4
As to the usual mode of wielding the spear, we see in a picture of a battle, inserted between fol. 14*b* and fol. 15*a* of B.M., Or: 3610 (Rieu, Supp. p. 54, N°. 79) showing an attack on the elephant of Rafīʿ-ush-shān, that the man on horseback (ʿAbd-uṣ-ṣamad Khān) who is attacking the prince, held his spear uplifted above his head at the full length of his arm. In other pictures the same attitude is seen in the case of horsemen attacking horsemen.
c10.s4.5
*Barchhah*. This is a Hindī word, also spelt *Barchhā* and *Barchhī*. W. Egerton, note to N°. 461, p. 115, quoting Tod’s “Rajasthan,” says “the Mahratta lance is called ‘Birchha.’” This statement taken literally may be true; it is false, if taken as suggesting that the *Barchhah* is an exclusively Mahratta arm. We find the *Barchhah* in the *Āīn* list of Moghul arms, drawn up long before the Mahrattas had been heard of as a military power. It is a well known word and weapon all over Northern India, hundreds of miles from the Mahratta country. We have it figured as N°. 17 of plate xii of the *Āīn* (vol. I). Its distinctive feature is its being made wholly of iron or steel, shaft as well as head. See also Egerton’s description, p. 123, note preceding N°. 574, of two specimens in the Codrington collection. This heavy spear could hardly have been wielded by a man on horse-back, and was no doubt confined to the infantry.
c10.s4.6
*Sānk*. This form of the word is Blochmann’s transliteration, *Āīn*, i, 110, N°. 22. According to present day pronunciation it would be *Sāng*. The second mark over the letter *kaf* is very often omitted by scribes, and thus ک might easily stand for گ. *Sāng*, (Shakes. 1239) is from the Sanskrit शङ्कु or शक्ति, *shanku*, *shakti*. It was entirely of iron, but according to the figure in the *Āīn*, i, plate xii, fig. 18, it was much shorter than the *Barchhah*. On the other hand, those in the Indian Museum are 7 feet 11 inches in total length, of which the head occupies 2 feet 6 inches. They have long, slender, four-sided or three-sided heads, steel shafts, and the grip covered with velvet, (Egerton, N°. 72, p. 81, and figure on p. 79), N°. 461, two, (p. 115).
c10.s4.7
The Indian name for the modern bayonet is *sangīn*. This may probably mean a little *sāng*; and is possibly formed from *sāng* by a shortening of the vowel and the addition of the diminutive termination ں nasalized. The long, slender, three sided or four sided head of the *sāng* presents a resemblance to the shape of a bayonet; and in Hindī it is not uncommon, in the case of inanimate objects, to employ the feminine termination “*ī*” as a diminutive, thus *golā*, a ball, *golī*, a bullet, *hāndā* a cauldron, *hāndī*, a small pot, *chakkā* a wheel, *chakkī*, a hand-mill.
c10.s4.8
*Sainthī*. This is a Hindī word, also spelt *saintī*. Shakespear, 1370, defines it as a dart, javelin, short spear, bolt. It is N°. 23 in the *Āīn*, i, 111, and appears as N°. 19 on plate xii. The shaft is still shorter than that of the *sāng*. It is not given in Egerton. Has the name any connection with *senthī*, Hindī for a kind of reed?
c10.s4.9
*Selarah*. This is N°. 24 of the *Āīn* list, i, 111, and it is figured on plate xii (N°. 20) as a spear with a head and shaft longer than those of the *sainthī* but not so long as those of the *sāng*. There is no mention of it in Egerton, and outside the *Āīn* I have never either seen the weapon or come across the word. Possibly the word has some connection with the Hindī *sel*, سیل, a spear, said to be (Shakes. 1368) from Sanskrit शल.
c10.s4.10
*Other kinds of spears*. Four names, *Ballam*, *Pandī-ballam*, *Panjmukh*, and *Lānge* occur in Egerton as kinds of spears, though omitted from the *Āīn*.
c10.s4.11
The *Ballam* is well-known in moderm Hindī, and is defined, Shakes. 354, as a spear, pike, lance. Egerton has two specimens, N°s 27 and 28 (p. 78), which are described as having barbed heads and wooden shafts, total length 5 feet 11 inches, of which the blade takes up 18 inches. On p. 123, quoting from the Codrington catalogue, Mr. Egerton says the *Ballam* is a short spear with broad head, used by infantry.
c10.s4.12
*Pandī-ballam* (Egerton N°. 29, p. 78) is a hog-spear with leafshaped blade, and bambu shaft, total length 8 feet 3 inches (blade 2 feet 3 inches).
c10.s4.13
*Panjmukh* is described on p. 137 in a note to N°. 710, on the authority of the Codrington catalogue, as a “five-headed spear used by the people of Guzerat.” The derivation is, of course, panj, five, mukh, head.
c10.s4.14
Lānge is mentioned on p. 123 in a quotation from the Codrington catalogue, and it is suggested that the word is a corruption of “lance.” It has a four-cornered iron head with a hollow shaft.
c10.s4.15
Other designations for a spear are also to be found in Shakespear, vizt. :
c10.s4.16
Garhiyā, (col. 1705), Pike, javelin, spear;
c10.s4.17
‘Alam, (1458), Spear (properly a standard or banner);
c10.s4.18
Kont, (1637) spear from Sans. कुन्त.
c10.s4.19
‘Alam I have heard used, but I never met with the two other words. To complete the long list I may as well add the sort of bill-hook or pole-axe, gaṇḍāsā, a steel chopper attached to a long pole, which is the weapon of the modern chaukidār or village watchman.