Tegha

[spiral]

Bill, I have had a couple of giant Indian kukri in the past with virtualy identical figures.

The steel wasnt tempered on either of them though.

Is the tegha tempered?

Spiral

[Jens Nordlunde]

In ‘A Catalogue of Arms and Armour in the State Museum, Hyderabad, A.P., 1975’, they write that they have five Teghas, and they show a (bad) picture of three of them. I find it strange that they only have five, as the museum is in the area, where Egerton writes they were used, so I would have expected a lot more – but five it is.

#123, hilt 18 cm, blade 67 cm, 18th century. #124, hilt 18 cm, blade 84 cm, 18th century. #125, hilt 16 cm, blade 70 cm, 19th century. #126, hilt 23 cm, blade 85 cm, 19th century. #127, hilt 19 cm, blade 81 cm, 19th century.

What Bill is showing can very well be a Tegha, but there seem to be a lot of other sword types which are called Tegha as well.

[Bill M]

Originally Posted by spiral

Bill, I have had a couple of giant Indian kukri in the past with virtualy identical figures.

The steel wasnt tempered on either of them though.

Is the tegha tempered?

Spiral

Hi Jonathan,

Mine does seem to have a hardened edge. It resists a file. You might also note it has a heavy point, sort of like an armor piercing weapon. While I do not think that was the intent, it shows that care was taken when it was made. I don't think it was made for tourists.

Bill



Hi Jens,

It certainly does appear that tegha was a name for other swords as well. Perhaps we should be looking more specifically for the tegha in Dr.Gaytri Nath Pant's "Indian Arms and Armor," (1980) Volume II, Page 84, he states:

"It is an Indian sabre with a broad curved balde and the hilt like that of a Talwar. It is used by the Muslim, Marathas and Rajputs. Those have hunting scenes engraved on the blades are are called tegha shikargaha."

[Jens Nordlunde]

Hi Bill,

From the Rawson manuscript I have 15 pages describing different swords, a front page saying ‘The Indian Sword, A catalogue Raissone of the Indian collection in the Victoria and Albert Museum, by P.S.Rawson, part two, Catalogue, and then I have the following pages 94-289, but I don’t have the pages 1-93. Do you have them?



Bill you wrote. ‘It appears to me that there were plain and functional versions shown by Jens above. It also seems that there were heavily adorned sacrificial swords that were just as valid.’ Yes you are right, but if you look at post #13, the sword to the right, if that is a Tegha, what does a Tulwar then look like? We know swords and daggers were called differently in different places, so maybe the name Tegha was used in a broader sense to the south than to the north.

Would you say the sword on the picture is a Tegha? I think one could, but it is definitely a Tulwar.

[Jens Nordlunde]

We may as well try; another author on the subject.Dr. Sued Zafar Haider, Islamic Arms and Armour of Muslim India. On page 176 the author writes. Tegha. I was a sword with a broad and very deep curved blade, deeper than shamshir and mounted with an Indo-Muslim hilt. It could be differentiated from the tulwar by its broad and deeply curved blade.


Whatever it is called Bill, it is still a very nice sword you have.

[spiral]

Originally Posted by Bill Marsh

Hi Jonathan,

Mine does seem to have a hardened edge. It resists a file. You might also note it has a heavy point, sort of like an armor piercing weapon. While I do not think that was the intent, it shows that care was taken when it was made. I don't think it was made for tourists.

Bill

.[/I]"

Cool. A properly hardend edge sounds good.


Spiral

[Rick]

You wind up with this.

[Bill M]

Originally Posted by Rick

You wind up with this.

Rick,

I know what you have here, and yet the blade shape reminds me of another sword from far-away China.

Oxtail saber (niuweidao). Qing Dynasty. Commonly known today as " the Chinese Broadsword."

Many of these niuweidao were for the relatively unskilled bloke as a "chopper."

My pictures show an above average sword. Most were cheaply made and mass produced.