The Army of the Indian Moghuls: Its Organization and Administration c11.s1.12

c11.s1.12

The bowman drew with his thumb only, the bent forefinger being merely pressed on one side of the arrow nock to secure it from falling, or as Dr. Weissenberg (quoting v. Luschau) says, p. 52, the forefinger was pressed on the nail of the thumb to strengthen the pull without increasing the exertion. To prevent the flesh being torn by the bow string the *zihgīr* had been invented (Egerton, 114). It was a broad ring, and according to a man’s rank and means was of precious stone, crystal, jade, ivory, horn, fishbone, gold or iron. A very valuable *zihgīr*, part of the Lāhor booty, one that had belonged to Lord Dalhousie, is described in the “Daily Telegraph” of the 10th November 1898. It was formed of a single emerald and was 2 3/8 inches across at the widest part and 1 1/4 inches in depth. It bore an inscription which is thus translated: “For a bow ring for the King of Kings, Nādir, Lord of the Conjunction, from the Jewel House it was selected, 1152” (= A.D. 1739). From the date and the wording of this inscription it is to be inferred that it was part of the spoil carried off from Dihli. How it found its way back to Lāhor we do not know. Sometimes two thimbles were worn instead of a *zihgīr*, on the first and second fingers of the right hand. Upon the inside of this ring (the *zihgīr*), which projected half an inch, the string rested when the bow was drawn; on the outside the ring was only half the breadth, and in loosing the arrow the archer straightened his thumb, which set the arrow free. (Egerton, 114, quoting the *Book of Archery*, 136). By the use of the ring the distance to which an arrow could be shot was increased. But its use required skill and practice; the Hindūs used instead a thumbstall of leather (*Mirāt-ul-Iṣṭilāḥ*, fol. 155*b*). These rings with a spare string were usually carried in a small box suspended at the man's side (Egerton, 114). Dr. S. Weissenberg, of Elisabethgrad, Russia, has devoted an article to these rings in the *Mittheilungen der anthropologischen Gesellschaft in Wien*, Band XXV (1895) pp. 50—56, where he gives figures of eight of them. He divides them into two classes 1) cylindrical, 2) with tongue-like projection. Those described by him are of bone or stone, and six out of thirteen were found in the ruins of Sarae, a former capital of the Qipchāq. See also a thumb ring of ivory (now in the Nuremberg museum) figured on the plate at p. 887 of A. Demmin, "Die Kriegswaffen", 4th ed., 1893.