The Army of the Indian Moghuls: Its Organization and Administration c17.11

c17.11

Burton, writing of Sindh in 1844, gives us a good picture of Indian single-stick and sword-play. The usual style of sword exercise in India is, he says, “Life”, i, 119, with a kind of single-stick, ribboned with list cloth up to the top, and a small shield in the left hand. The swordsman begins by “renowning it”, vapouring, waving his blade, and showing all the curious *fantasie* that distinguish a Spanish *espada*. Then, with the fiercest countenance, he begins to spring in the air, to jump from side to side, to crouch, and to rush forwards and backwards, with all the action of an excited baboon. They never thought of giving “point”: throughout India the thrust is confined to the dagger. The cuts as a rule were only two, one on the shoulder and the other, in the vernacular called *qalam*¹, at the lower legs. Nothing was easier than to guard these cuts and to administer a thrust that would have been fatal with steel. Colonel Blacker on the other hand, “War”, 302, thought more highly of the native cutting stroke, it being the only one capable of penetrating the quilted jackets, or the many folds of cloth worn as turbans by Indians. The colonel held the opinion that the then Dragoon sword would not penetrate these, even by giving “point”. He adds “the native practice not only requires a stiff wrist, but a stiff though not a straight elbow, for a cut that shall disable”.