Indo-Persian ? SEA? Pole arm head?

Jim McDougall · 24th January 2007, 02:07 AM

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 · 24th January 2007, 09:17 AM

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 · 24th January 2007, 10:45 PM

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 · 25th January 2007, 02:19 PM

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

25th January 2007, 02:19 PM	#4
Jens Nordlunde Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Europe Posts: 2,718	Here you have both the long and the short ancus, but there is a third type. It only have the hook but no shaft. Attached Images

24th January 2007, 02:07 AM	#1
Jim McDougall Arms Historian Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Route 66 Posts: 10,192	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

24th January 2007, 09:17 AM	#2
B.I Member Join Date: Jan 2005 Posts: 485	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'.

24th January 2007, 10:45 PM	#3
katana Member Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Kent Posts: 2,658	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