Two Salawar yataghans - khyber knives

[ariel]

Originally Posted by spiral

Where does that presumably well reserched statement come from?



Spiral

Kipling, "Young British Soldier"
When you're wounded and left on Afghanistan's plains,
And the women come out to cut up what remains,
Jest roll to your rifle and blow out your brains
An' go to your Gawd like a soldier.

[Lew]

Here is a short one 12-14inch blade.

[ariel]

Originally Posted by LOUIEBLADES

Here is a short one 12-14inch blade.

Please compare this Khyber (Lew's) with all other examples posted here: I once asked ( and got no answer) whether different pommels indicate different localities, tribes etc.
Any takers?

[Emanuel]

Lew's example is like a choora. Choora handles are markedly different from the simple horn scales on most of the big salawar yataghans. Could there be a functional reason for this? If not then my guess is that it's a geographic/ethnic variation. Stone states that the big khyber knives belonged to the Afridi tribe living in the Khyber pass. Perhaps the choora and karud handles belong to some of the other Pashtun and misc tribes.

[spiral]

Originally Posted by ariel

Kipling, "Young British Soldier"
When you're wounded and left on Afghanistan's plains,
And the women come out to cut up what remains,
Jest roll to your rifle and blow out your brains
An' go to your Gawd like a soldier.

Ahh these are girls knives then!

I live & learn!

Spiral

[katana]

Originally Posted by ariel

Kipling, "Young British Soldier"
When you're wounded and left on Afghanistan's plains,
And the women come out to cut up what remains,
Jest roll to your rifle and blow out your brains
An' go to your Gawd like a soldier.

It was my understanding that this type of sword was indigenous to the mountainous regions of Afghanistan and India, hence being a short sword. Surely larger swords would be employed whilst fighting "on Afghanistan's plains".....

Most of the conflict with the hill tribes were difficult for the British due to the tribes mens skill with firearms, their 'local' knowledge of the terrain and their guerrilla tactics.....

Regards David

[Rick]

" A scrimmage in a Border Station—
A canter down some dark defile—
Two thousand pounds of education Drops to a ten-rupee jezail—

The Crammer’s boast, the Squadron’s pride,
Shot like a rabbit in a ride! "

R.K.

[ariel]

Originally Posted by katana

It was my understanding that this type of sword was indigenous to the mountainous regions of Afghanistan and India, hence being a short sword. Surely larger swords would be employed whilst fighting "on Afghanistan's plains".....

Most of the conflict with the hill tribes were difficult for the British due to the tribes mens skill with firearms, their 'local' knowledge of the terrain and their guerrilla tactics.....

Regards David

Poetic license, old son


Besides, had it been "... left in the mountains", what rhyme could old Ruddy use? " Fountains"? Too decadent... Kind of reminds of doe-eyed houries, rather than vicious Afghani hags

[katana]

Originally Posted by ariel

Poetic license, old son


Besides, had it been "... left in the mountains", what rhyme could old Ruddy use? " Fountains"? Too decadent... Kind of reminds of doe-eyed houries, rather than vicious Afghani hags

I see your point
..... anyway "one" does pronounce it 'mount anes' ...don't you know. Its the "commoners" that pronounce it 'mount ins'. So with "one's" blue blood status ( ) I can easily see that 'plains' could easily be replaced with 'mountanes'

Regards
13542425562677th in succession to the throne of England

[ariel]

Prince Harry with his Queen English was just pulled out of Afghanistan.
The remains, with plain brains, speak Cockney

[Jim McDougall]

So does anyone have any thoughts on why these were called Salawar Yataghans? or where the term might have originated?

[Jeff Pringle]

At an auction last year, one of these caused a bit of a stir. It had a metal hilt with fairly intact original koftgari, and a blade (that looked to me to be) of high-quality wootz although that was not called out in the description or immediately obvious in the hand, the blade having been cleaned up with abrasives but not re-etched. Unfortunately, the blade was afflicted with not just spots of rust, but craters that went half-way through the blade in places.
Despite those blemishes, bidding in the room quickly took it up to somewhere between 2 and 3 thousand dollars, and then continued between two telephone bidders all the way to 7 K. So there was a nice, long stretch where everyone in the room was out of the game and could only watch, with ever increasing awe & incredulity as the price climbed and the bidding rhythm slowed, until the hammer finally fell and they could get on with their auction.
There was one of those ‘collective sighs of relief’ moments when one of the two bidders finally gave up.
Nice knife!