Indo-Persian ? SEA? Pole arm head?

[katana]

Hi,
please has anyone any infomation on this Pole arm head? The blade is 14" (36cms) long and approx. 2" (5cms) at its widest point. It is forged with sharp edges. The socket seems to be brass and is 6 1/2 " (16.5cms) long, the internal diameter is around 30 mm.

Quite likely cast around the base of the blade. I am informed by the seller that it is 17 C / 18 Century....certainly has age and evidence of 'many' sharpenings. The blade and socket appear much brighter than it actually is (flash).
Cannot ID origin, confirm age any help or comments would be appreciated, thankyou.

[Jens Nordlunde]

Hi Katana,
In Elgood’s book Hindu Arms and Ritual page 192 you can see pictures of lance/spear heads like the one you show – or almost like it. The socket is of brass and the blade of steel. So it could be south India or maybe Sri Lanka.

[Jim McDougall]

Hi Katana,
Jens is 100% right, this appears to be a spear head from Sri Lanka.
In "Sinhala Weapons & Armour" by P.E.P. Deraniyagala (Journal of the Ceylon Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society", Part III, 1942, pp.117-118), similar is shown as a "...kuru Itale or kurukitale (elephant spear)" and apparantly the heads varied from 6" to as much as 48". These are described as having the median ridges raised into cutting edges which converge at the point of the spear. On the examples described there were apparantly straps downward to secure the head to the shaft (as seen on 19th century cavalry lances).
The brass, as Jens has noted also supports the southern India, Ceylon identification.

Your example is likely a ceremonial one from the 19th c. as the features are vestigial and the head lacks the securing straps that would be attached to the shaft. Apparantly the earlier forms actually had the median ridge expanded and sharpened and the downward projecting 'wings' at the base corresponded and were also sharpened.

Beautiful example! and stuff from Sri Lanka seems pretty hard to find these days.

All the best,
Jim

[katana]

Thanks Jens and Jim ,

interesting stuff..and very helpful (as usual).... ...Jim you mentioned the possibility that this could be ceremonial. I'm not so sure..... the blade is no longer 'symmetrical' because of repeated sharpening (more so on one side than the other) . Still reasonably sharp although there is no evidence of being 'honed' recently.
There is a hole in the socket where a 'rivet' or similar was possibly used to attach to the shaft.
The shaft, I presume would have been wood (teak ?) with a minimum diameter of approx. 30mm (1 1/5 ") but more likely was 41 mm (1 7/8") if 'level' with the 'bevelled' end of the socket. That would surely be a substantial 'heavyweight' shaft ?

The 'medial ridge' is 5/8" (15mm) 'thick' at the socket end which tapers (distally ?) to 3/16" (4.5 mm) just millimeters before the point.

Would these dimensions etc. still suggest ceremonial?

Has the 'inverted arrowhead motif' any significance ???

Ah ... one more thing....would 'elephant spear' mean a spear 'used' whilst on 'elephantback' or would it be used by a 'foot' soldier to 'take down' one of these magnificent animals.

[Jim McDougall]

Hi Katana,
If that has been sharpened then you're right, it was probably 'live'. It seemed ceremonial only in the sense that the features had devolved essentially to less dramatic form. Terms expressed as 'elephant sword' 'gun' etc. are always confusing. I cannot imagine trying to kill an elephant with one of these, although the ribbed four blade shape seems much like 'armor piercing' weapons. I'm not sure on the significance of the winglike shape, and perspective on those features we can only speculate. There would probably be some pretty good suggestions found in "Hindu Arms and Ritual", as Jens has mentioned.

Good observation on the shaft size also, and that might support use for anti-elephant warfare. Maybe this was sort of a proto-bazooka? In any case, I think your descriptions probably revise the ceremonial suggestion. I'd like to find out more on the use of these weapons associated with elephants, as well as the ancus, which is a most mysterious implement/weapon.

Best regards,
Jim

[katana]

Originally Posted by Jim McDougall

I'd like to find out more on the use of these weapons associated with elephants, as well as the ancus, which is a most mysterious implement/weapon.

Best regards,
Jim

You and me ...both.

I'll see what I can 'dig up' and post it here The use of Elephants in ancient warfare is trully facinating....many were trained to use trunk, tusks and feet (probably not an accurate 'scientific' term...but you get the picture )to attack, maim and crush any 'foot' soldiers in their path Many had forms of armour and sometimes the tusks were removed and sword-like blades fitted in their place... . I would imagine, a 'foot' soldier armed with a hefty spear / pole arm would have little chance against a charging 'war' elephant....perhaps they had a tactic..whereby the elephant could be sucessfully attacked ...with less risk

[nKante]

Yes, I have seen examples of blades that were fixed to the elephants tusk. At first glance that is what I thought this was. But the example I saw had a socket that was bigger than the blade. And it swept up, as a natural tusk would. I can only imagine the electricity in the air during an elephant charge. I don't care how big your spear is, it takes a set of brass ones to fight one of those things. One of Hannibals last battles that I read about used trumpets at the last second to confuse and scare the elephants. The front line of foot soldiers were staggered. As the elephants passed in between they were harassed by light armored missle troops (mostly javalins). This tactic worked, but was aided by the fact that the elephants were newly trained. Only a handful, I think 16, of Hannibals elephants returned from the European invassion.

[Jim McDougall]

You're right Katana, this topic of elephant warfare has got my curiosity up! so I've been hittin' the books too. Nice illustrations you posted BTW!
Interesting stuff nKante, and I've heard of elephant swords also, so wanted to see what I could find, as well as how likely was defense against these huge animals.

In 1526, Babur noted, "...the great beasts were very difficult to kill, though they could more easily be driven off", ("Mughal India 1504-1761" D.Nicolle,p.15).

However, in describing battle c.1116 between Seljuqs and Ghaznavids, it is noted that "...the Seljuq troops were able to stampede the elephants into retreat by attacking the leading beast in the only part not completely covered with armour, the vulnerable under belly".
from " The Elephant Armour" by Thom Richardson & Donna Stevens ("Royal Armouries Yearbook" Vol.I 1996, p.101.

Regarding the weaponry attached to the elephant itself, descriptions of them at the Battle of Panipat (1556) says that the trunks were armed with 'spears and knives' (Richardson, op.cit.p.102). Also in the same reference, it is noted
Timur describing the elephants of the Delhi Sultans in 1398, says that sharp poisoned points were fastened firmly to their tusks, and that the Bahmani armies c.1468 attached large scythes to the trunks and tusks of their elephants. In 1535, the Vijayanagar armies fastened knives on their tusks, "...with which they do much harm".

In "By my Sword and Shield" (E.Jaiwent Paul, New Delhi, 1995, p.106) the author describes the tusks of the elephants were "...tipped with sharp metal points".

Richardson (p.103) claims that a pair of the tusk swords still survive at Powis Castle in England, and "...tusk swords are otherwise very rare, the only other examples known to us are two rather small and probably late pairs from the now dispersed Mysore arsenal of Maharaja Krishnaraja Wadiyar III (1794-1868); one of these pairs was offered for sale in London (Sothebys 1991, Lot 553)".
Wonder what these went for?!! Anybody got that catalog?

To tell the truth, I dont think those elephants really needed swords! just as you say nKante. But I always thought it was interesting to know if they really existed. These were all the references I could find so far.

As you have noted Katana, the elephants were trained to crush, throw unfortunate victims with their trunks etc. Apparantly they were also key rally points, easy to see! They served sort of as vantage points of sorts for the maharajah, unfortunately up there he became a pretty good target for the archers.

With all this talk about elephants, I cant help thinking of the 'pet' of Victor MacLaughlin in "Gunga Din" !! when it tried to follow them on the suspension bridge! 'bit of a problem there!!'.



All best regards,
Jim

[Joe]

Pair of elephant tusk blades.

Unfortunately, I've long since lost the source for these two.

Sorry.

[B.I]

Hi Joe,
The tusk blades you show are the ones mentioned by Jim, and were part of Clives estate in Powis. They are now with the elephant armour at Leeds Armouries, although they are too big to stick on the end of the mounted elephant tusks (without skewering the occasional passing schoolchild)
Jim,
I have the Sothebys catalogue, and the pair from Mysore (also illustrated in the Mysore armoury catalogue) are quite disappointing. The Powis pair are huge, and very heavy, leaving no doubt they were made for use and not ceremonial.
On the spearhenad, I go along with Jens and Jims summary. It has the asthetics of South India, but could easily (even more liikely) be from Sri Lanka.

[Jim McDougall]

Joe, nice work showing those!! I was hoping someone out there had an illustration of these and I wanted to see what they looked like. These definitely look 'business like' and pretty intimidating. Thank you for posting these !

Hello B.I. its great to hear from you, and I had hoped you might have that Sothebys catalog and I rather suspected they might be as you note, disappointing as they are so late. I'm glad you are on board with the regional assessment as well on the spear, but am wondering , by the term 'elephant spear' would this be meant as to be used from the crews aboard the elephant to use from that height, or were these to kill elephants, possibly directed at underbelly? I personally wouldn't want to be even that close to an enraged elephant!

All best regards,
Jim

[B.I]

Hi Jim,
It's hard to say more on the spear, as there are no definitive and defining features. Maybe the decoration on the shaft?
The way the shaft envelopes the blade either side, is mimicking a South Indian Motif, of a 'Makara/Yali' head, symmetrically supporting the blade.
Strangely enough, I have been looking into North Indian ankuses, investigating a particular piece, and found there is a wealth of contemporary imagery, mostly from Rajput source (although Mughal as well). The miniatures are very clear, showing full battle scenes involving weaponry and modes of fighting with elephants.
I would this this would be a good place to start looking for more information on 'elephant spears'.

[katana]

It seems the term ‘elephant spear’ is ambigious. There are references to spears and pole arms being used to attack elephants and being used by those on the elephant to fight back. As mentioned later (in this post)the Sri Lankan elephant can stand some 11 feet tall….so a pole arm used by those on elephantback would be fairly long ….so it would make sense to have the shaft made of wood to keep the weight down….but this is just a suggestion. As for the Ancus….


Old Indian: an†ka´- m. `hook, curve'; a´n†kas- n. `curve, bend', an†kus´a´- m. `hook, esp. an elephant-driver's hook'; a´n~cati `to bend, curve, incline'

The Ancus is regulary described as an elephant driver’s (Mahout) hook. The shorter version is used whilst on the animals back….there is also a longer one which is used by a ‘trainer’ whilst on foot. This is where the elephant is not fully trained and riding its back could be ‘dangerous’. The hook is placed under the ear and pulled..left ear for left etc.
Although elephants are intelligent, their behaviour is influenced by the social hierachy they experience in the wild. This requires the Mahout to ‘dominate’ the elephant so that he becomes (in the eyes of the elephant) the ‘bull’ elephant. The Ancus in the hands of the elephant driver would be too short to strike ‘foot’ soldiers whilst on elephantback, the spiked section seems to have two possible uses.

1. to ‘pierce’ the animal’s skin,….. to create pain as a controlling mechanism

2. Slightly more sinister is the suggestion that the ‘spike’ is driven into the brain (to kill it quickly) in the event that the elephant is ‘spooked’ or injured and turns and runs ‘amok’ back through its own lines. There was a tactic whereby the trunk of an attacking elephant would be severed, causing it to turn and flee in panic. Causing chaos and injury to the troops following behind. There is also evidence that a chisel-blade and a hammer was carried to cut through the spinal cord and kill the animal if the elephant went berserk.

The Sri Lankan Elephant.

The first subspecies is the Sri Lankan Asian Elephant (Elephas maximus maximus). Found only on the island of Sri Lanka, a small country off the southeast coast of India, it is the largest of the Asians. There are only an estimated 3,000-4,500 members of this subspecies left today in the wild, although no accurate census has been carried out in the recent past. Large males can weigh upward to 12,000 lb and stand over 11 feet tall.

More about Elephants here…
http://www.reference.com/browse/wiki/Elephant


The Chola Military…their use of elephants….extract below.
Chinese traveller and chronicler Chau Ju-kua, who travelled in the Chola contry c 1178 gives the following account of the Chola army:
This [Chola] country is at war with the kingdom of the [west] of India. The government owns sixty thousand war elephants, every one seven or eight feet high. When fighting these elephants carry on their backs houses, and these houses are full of soldiers who shoot arrows at long range, and fight with spears at close quarters.[1]

http://www.answers.com/topic/chola-military


Extract from an article on Warfare in India
……No description of India’s ancient military is complete without mentioning the elephant. India was the first nation to use the elephant in battle (~1500BC) and the last nation to stop using it in battle (1800’s AD). Wars were frequently fought over territories that had a great deal of elephants. Elephants from the tip of south India and Sri Lanka were the most prized as they were considered the fiercest in battle. Often times, a king’s wealth was measured in how many elephants he owned. A single Indian prince might own more elephants than all of Carthage. According to Kautilya, the army of the Indian emperor Chandragupta Maurya had more than 21,000 elephants. War elephants typically were heavily armored. They had a castle like structure on their back where several warriors and a mahout, who guided the elephant, would be housed. The number of warriors varied anywhere from one to six warriors, and would be armed with an arsenal of weapons, bows and arrows, long lances, javelins, tridents, and a variety of polearms.

http://209.85.135.104/search?q=cache...&ct=clnk&cd=23

Wikipedia….War Elephants….Link below
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_elephant

Wikipedia….Tent Pegging…a sport that is believed to have its roots in the technique of injuring / scaring elephants whilst on horseback

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tent_pegging

As a footnote….many elephants were killed or mortally wounded (and put down) the exert below shows that the aftermath of the battle would have caused a logistic nightmare with the dead animal carcasses.

Lord Baden Powell (Sir at the time) wrote in Memories of India’

“…..and when he (an elephant) dies he is an awful clog on the sanitary arrangements. One died at Kandahar in 1881, and I have not got the remembrance of him out of my nostrils yet. He was too big to move, so they tried to burn him, but only succeeded in roasting portions of him; the remainder they tried to bury by piling pyramids of earth over him, but, as the days passed, the earth was found not to conceal all that was underneath it. When a change of wind came and blew in the direction of Kandahar, it became a question whether or not the city should be evacuated. In the end adventurous spirits were sent with slabs of guncotton on the end of poles; these they inserted in strategical spots within the carcase and blew it to bits. The different portions were then harnessed on to camels and towed away to places where they could be buried separately.

http://pinetreeweb.com/bp-memories14.htm

[Jens Nordlunde]

Here you have both the long and the short ancus, but there is a third type. It only have the hook but no shaft.