| 
				  
 
			
			Afghani swords are interesting  in their own right and serve as a reminder of a mix of  site-specific and generic “ Indian” traditions, just like their guns,
 Pulwars have features reminding of both S. Indian ( cup-like closed pommel) and Persian ( down-turned quillons with “ dragon heads”) features. Their blades are often very thick and narrow, some  have peculiar fuller structure ( usually one or more parallel fullers by the spine interrupted with plain areas, often with a box-like element close to the handle) and a rivet in the quillon block in case of Afghani  tulwars.
 
 But, as Elgood has instructed us, swords from the Indo-Persian area need  to  be viewed blade and handle separately: most of them have been rehilted more than once. An amusing example of it is the fact that Indian swords in the Victoria & Albert museum, collected early in the 19th century,  often have mismatched combinations locality and age-wise. But in the Wallace collection they all match perfectly, likely because after ~1870 when the collection was assembled most sumptuous swords were made in the royal workshops as gifts  and souvenirs.
 
 
 I have a couple of mismatched Afghani- Indian  examples, but we are in the midst of a thunderstorm and it is too dark for photography.
 
 If anybody is interested, I can do it one day upon request.
 |