The extended forefinger over the guard, and the 'Indian ricasso'. This is a very old debate that seems to come up every so often over the years!
As always these 'debates' often bring out the darker side of some people, but it would be interesting if we could really examine the topic and leave the personalities out.
I think Fernando's posting of the Dahenhart book brings up some pertinant perspective. It seems that the practice of wrapping the forefinger around the guard for more control was well established with rapiers, and the developed quillons of the guard were indeed for protection of the hand and the finger.
The Portuguese were well established colonially in India. Many early weapons of India seem to have borne the influence of European weapons including two handed swords, the basket hilt, broadsword military blades, trade sabre blades among others.
The purpose of the ricasso on Indian sabre blades is of course the center of this controversial topic. Some questions that should be considered:
On many forms of tulwar, there is the knuckleguard which is suggested to have derived from European sabres. This hilt feature suggests protection for the hand in sword to sword combat. It would seem that an extended finger outside the guard in this case would invite disaster.
On the other hand, much of the Indian use of the tulwar involved slashing cuts with the only parrying received by the shield. If this was the case, the finger would not require protection, and the cut might be better controlled by the tightly held wrapped forefinger.
It has been shown in previous discussions that the typical size of the Indian hand was indeed typically smaller and the hilts were often fashioned accordingly. In some cases this was taken to presume that certain hilts were not meant to receive the entire finger group, the forefinger would be outside the guard. This was disproven in my opinion by similar size hilts on swords with basket hilts that could not allow such finger extension.
Did all Indian blades actually have ricassos? Could these have been taken from trade European sabre blades in form? Was the purpose of the ricasso, being the blank unsharpened spot at the root of the blade, simply a choil to act as a terminus for sharpening the blade?
It may well be that the extended forefinger was simply a practice subject to individual preference. Possibly the manner early Portuguese swordsmen held thier rapiers may have influenced some Indian swordsmen, bit it does not seem likely that the tulwars were fashioned specifically to afford that option. Also the rapier was of course a thrusting weapon, the tulwar clearly was not.
It would seem that a defined conclusion to this controversial topic will likely remain at an impasse, and individuals will retain thier opinions pending more compelling evidence. I always have the utmost regard for those who maintain their opinions without trying to belittle others, and look forward to more observations and especially supporting material.
All best regards,
Jim
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