A Tegha

[Jens Nordlunde]

Some time ago there was a discussion about what a tegha looked like, besides from the ones with the very extreem blades.
The one showed below is a tegha. North Indian late 17th to early 18th century, and the floral decoration has a Mughal influence.
The blade is pattern welded, has a heavy 'T' spine, and is at the yelman 6 cm broad. The hilt is a tulwar hilt, and yet there are differences, as the disc is rather heavy and the ends of the quillons are more rounded than normal.
Total length 92 cm, length of blade 80 cm.
On each side of the blade there is an inscription. On one side it says 'Shri Wodeyar Krishna III', and on the other side 'Thega 16'. Notice the different way of spelling Tegha.
Wodeyar Krishna III was placed on the throne after the death of Tipu Sultan, beinf of the ruling family from before Haider Ali and his son Tipu Sultan took power. I am sure the British had learned the lesson, and removed a big part of the weapons from Tipu Sultand armouties before they let Krishna onto the throne.
It is likely that the tegha was in the Mysore armoury before before Krishna got to the throne, if not he must have boght it, but it is known, that he marked the weapons in his armoury with his name and the name of the weapon.
Does anyone have a sword with a hilt like this one?
Jens