Inscription identification of two Indian chainmail-plate armour (Zirah Baktar)

[Richard R.]

Concerning the cataloguing, description and verification of old incomplete data of some oriental blades and armours, I would like to ask for your help. I would be grateful for any inputs such as possible dating, origin, translation and interpretation of the inscriptions and markings, etc.

The first chainmail-plate shirt (Nr. 1) has a two-line inscription on the inside of the rear kidney plate. The second line seems to be in a different script than the upper one. Unfortunately, the inscriptions are very blurred and difficult to identify. When trying to photograph the inscription, depending on the incidence of light, a different result or other possible guessed signs emerge. I have tried to digitally trace the writing with red to make it clearer, but have probably reproduced some characters incorrectly. I would be very grateful for any information’s, suggestions for translations or possible additions to the blurred letters.

The second chainmail-plate shirt (Nr. 2) bears punch dot markings on the front of the lower right main plate and a second inscription inside the right lower mainplate in the front.

Thanks
Richard


P.S. I have also started a corresponding help request on “swordforum.com” und der thread: “Inscription identification of two Indian/Mughal chain-plate coats (Zirah Baktar)”.

[Nihl]

Hi Richard. So, I can provide some help in discerning the scripts of your inscriptions, but I'm afraid I can only fully translate one of the three.

Going top-to-bottom, the first inscription you show is written in an arabic-based script. Something like Farsi, Urdu, Mughal Persian, or some variety thereof. As I am not literate in this script, I can not provide any translation, but hopefully someone on here or swordforum will be able to provide you more information.

The second inscription is a classic Bikaner armory mark. It reads "Bi 4", which doesn't provide much information other than that it was the fourth item (or perhaps piece of armor more specifically) to be catalogued in a given period. Given that most items in the Bikaner armory have multiple inventory markings on them, the fact that yours only has one suggests that it was only in the armory for a short period of time.

The third inscription is written in a Devanagari-based script, however due to the fact that such scripts varied quite a bit regionally until they were standardized in the modern day, I can't tell much of what it is saying, or what language/dialect it represents. However I can read the last two characters, one of which is simply the letter "dh" (ध), while the other is "Ji" (जी), an honorific similar to "sir". Given that ji is usually included at the end of names, it's safe to assume that this inscription gives the name of someone who owned this armor, however again given that I cannot read the rest of the inscription I can't tell you who exactly this person was (other than that their name ended in dh). There are no numbers present anywhere in this inscription, so it likely is just a person's name, perhaps accompanied by some type of devotional saying or the place/circumstance in which this armor was acquired.

[mahratt]

Originally Posted by Richard R.

Concerning the cataloguing, description and verification of old incomplete data of some oriental blades and armours, I would like to ask for your help. I would be grateful for any inputs such as possible dating, origin, translation and interpretation of the inscriptions and markings, etc.

The first chainmail-plate shirt (Nr. 1) has a two-line inscription on the inside of the rear kidney plate. The second line seems to be in a different script than the upper one. Unfortunately, the inscriptions are very blurred and difficult to identify. When trying to photograph the inscription, depending on the incidence of light, a different result or other possible guessed signs emerge. I have tried to digitally trace the writing with red to make it clearer, but have probably reproduced some characters incorrectly. I would be very grateful for any information’s, suggestions for translations or possible additions to the blurred letters.

The second chainmail-plate shirt (Nr. 2) bears punch dot markings on the front of the lower right main plate and a second inscription inside the right lower mainplate in the front.

Thanks
Richard


P.S. I have also started a corresponding help request on “swordforum.com” und der thread: “Inscription identification of two Indian/Mughal chain-plate coats (Zirah Baktar)”.

Hello Richard

Such chain mail comes to us from the 17th century and was part of the famous armoury at Bikaner, Rajasthan.
More often a Devanagari inscription on the inside of the right ‘breast plate’ mentions the name of Maharajah Anup Singh of Bikaner (1669–98) and records the fact that this shirt entered the Armoury when the Maharajah Anup Singh defeated the Adilshahi Dynasty at the Siege of Adoni in 1689. Exactly the same inscription is on exactly the same chain mail from my collection.
The front of the right breast plate chain mail from the collection of forum member Runjeet Singh has a short, neat inscription in Persian with the words Darwish Sahib—probably a reference to an important man to whom the shirt was presented after it entered the Armoury.

[Richard R.]

Hi Nihl, Hi Mahratt

I would like to thank you very much for your contributions. Regarding the first blurred inscription, I will take more detailed pictures which may increase the chance of identification or partial translation.

Mahratt, would it be possible to show pictures of your comparable chain mail and inscription? Do you know the translation/meaning of your inscription?

Regards,
RIchard

[mahratt]

Originally Posted by Richard R.

Hi Nihl, Hi Mahratt

I would like to thank you very much for your contributions. Regarding the first blurred inscription, I will take more detailed pictures which may increase the chance of identification or partial translation.

Mahratt, would it be possible to show pictures of your comparable chain mail and inscription? Do you know the translation/meaning of your inscription?

Regards,
RIchard

Hi, Richard

Here are pictures of my chain mail shirt. Unfortunately, I do not have an exact translation of the inscription. The inscription was watched, including by the Indians. But everyone was at a loss with the translation.

Best Regards,
Dmitriy (mahratt)

नाम
सेटीयारठा परा जेमाणे

[Richard R.]

Hi, Dimitry

Thank you for the nice pictures of your mail-plate armour.

Apparently there are chainmail-plate shirts with two main front plates and those with two pairs of overlapping main front plates, as well as those with three or of five rows of small plates in the back.

I wonder if these differences have something to do with a time period, geographic area or the size of the wearer?

Richard

[mahratt]

Originally Posted by Richard R.

Hi, Dimitry

Thank you for the nice pictures of your mail-plate armour.

Apparently there are chainmail-plate shirts with two main front plates and those with two pairs of overlapping main front plates, as well as those with three or of five rows of small plates in the back.

I wonder if these differences have something to do with a time period, geographic area or the size of the wearer?

Richard

Hello, Richard.

My opinion is that these chain mails were produced at about the same time in the same geographical region (Deccan). And the difference in the number of rows of small plates in the back is related to the size of the chain mail.

Dmitry

[mahratt]

A few more similar chain mail from private collections + a link to information about the arsenal in Bikaner:
https://www.mandarinmansion.com/article/bikaner-armory