Kaskara for review...

[Len S]

I recently acquired a Kaskara along with a late 19th century English sword. I’m wondering if there’s a chance that it might have been a “bring back” from the Mahdist Wars or is it just a “tourist” piece? Any information on this piece would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Len

P.S.
What is the calligraphy on blade? I don’t believe it’s Arabic.

[kronckew]

I've heard a lot of these swords with the etched calligraphy are unintelligible. They were made for illiterate Mahdists by illiterate smiths in Omdurman. Calligraphic Arabic is hard to read unless you have been raised in the culture, so maybe one of our Arab members can shed more light on it. I suspect the blades were more for show, by the higher ranked members. A lot of them do show up as bring-backs by soldiers from the battles. I suspect some were made for later tourists as well...

An older archived discussion on these thuluth etched swords <-link

Is yours sharpened? A full length photo of it out of the scabbard would be useful.


Hopefully one of our more knowledgeable kaskara aficionados can provide more info.

[Jim McDougall]

This is a very nice example of kaskara, and I did quite a bit of research on these a number of years ago with Prof. Allan Roberts (Anthropology, UCLA) which he included in "Striking Iron: The Art of African Blacksmiths", which he edited as well as wrote articles in (2019).
His objective was the analysis of this bold Islamic script found not only on kaskaras, but numbers of other weapon types of the Mahdist Period (1883-1898).

Briggs (1965) suggested this was 'decorative' but unreadable design imitating Quranic script. Actually we have discovered this was not entirely the case, and that these were combined verses or phrases from the Quran but used in repitition and with various exhortations and invocations added. As these combinations were not read in the proper manner of interpretation.

After the Mahdi died in 1885, the result of disease, naturally the Caliph who succeeded him was in a dilemma as the Messiah and primary force of the jihad was gone. The Mahdi was known for his 'magic' and blessings and held to possess tremendous powers.

The Caliph, in revitalizing his forces, began conscripting large numbers of men in tribal regions where slaving sources had been predominant, and in producing arms, not only were the kaskaras prevalent, but large numbers of tribal weapon forms not necessarily indiginous to Sudan.

The use of thuluth in these scripts was not only to carry the 'magic' of the Mahdi in verses, but thuluth is one of the more elementary 'pens' of Islamic script. It is used widely in a decorative sense and well known with the Mamluks of Egypt, but with presence in the Sudan. This was the likely source of the acid etched decorative motif.

It appears that these thuluth covered weapons were produced in the workshops at Omdurman, in which there was massive tooling and supplies captured by Mahdist forces as they took Khartoum and moved there.

It seems that with the Omdurman kaskaras, the crossguards were typically brass, contrary to the typically seen examples. The blades were imported as typically known, though there are suggestions some blades may have been forged there, remaining unproven as far as I have known.

This is my example, note the similiarity, the wrapped grip, brass guard and thuluth script.

These were intended for rank and file warriors, and these kaskara were believed by the Ansar (warriors) to be imbued with the magic and spirit of the Mahdi. In this sense the intent was not as much to protect the warrior but to ensure the support of the Mahdi's Angels with him in battle and to ensure his passage to paradise.

There were countless thousands of these produced over many years for the Mahdist Ansar under the Caliph, these were not produced during the Mahdi's reign. The notion that all kaskara that have survived with these features came from Omdurman's battle field so the massive numbers of these cannot be supported in accord with the numbers of warriors present.

It must be remembered that the Mahdist and Caliphate campaigns were not just these major conflicts, but other skirmishes and encounters as well over many years. Nothing happens overnight.

The numbers of these weapons made at Omdurman in addition to others were in wide circulation for those years, and many were in private holding. That the soldiers and later tourism during the Anglo-Egyptian Condominium eagerly sought souvenirs is of course quite the case, however the idea that these were MADE for tourism souvenirs is in my opinion incorrect. There was a cottage industry of items made in Birmingham. mostly spear heads it seems, but of these kaskara, the numbers of them in private circulation is hard to imagine.
While many may not have seen battle, they were authentically produced for it as described.

In my view, this is a wonderful pairing, with the kaskara, please just do light cleaning (WD40etc) as leaving patination intact is important. I always leave weapons pretty much as is, to preserve historic integrity.

[Len S]

Hi Kronckew,
Thanks for your reply. The blade is sharpened on both edges and I’m attaching a full length pic of the sword. Overall length is 39.25” with a blade length of 33.75”.

Best regards,
Len