Tulwar Fever Single Edged Tulwar
 

The downward cant of the hilt caught my eye as i'm one of those who find the straight hilts bother the back of my hand at the wrist on downward motions. This one is single edged very flexible with an extreme taper from 5/16s over a 1/4 inch at the hilt down to under a 1/16th of an inch at the tip. The blade has several edge nicks. The hilt disk is free to rotate and decorated by a circle of dots. I guess the pommel finial is a parrot there is a simple pin holding the dick on. Is this a hunting tulwar? oh , the disk has a flat area, like it was attached more recently.

Hunting Blade? More data
 

Additional data: Blade length 30.5 inches width at widest sharpened area 1 1/8 inch. Hilt space is across the top 3.5 inches, under side measurements 2 7/8s of an inch. Sword weighs 1.5 pounds. Balance point is 5 inches out on the blade flat. Would this type of blade shape used for hunting? Non armored combat? Are there others like this out there or was this one made to suit someones fighting style?

Hey Archer,

Cool group, I like the curvey ones.

I noticed (as probably alot did too) that the Indians way of sharpening is abit unforgiving on the blade.. I'd guess that this sword looked alot different when it was made.

Give it an etch, I'd guess its potentially wootz.

Here is one of my tulwars, the blade changed shape on this one too due to sharpening... Its wootz.

Very Nice
 

Hi Lotfy, Nice high contrast wootz on the blade. I believe that the punch marks are from Bikaner Armory. Nice catch was it an Arabian from Ardha? Steve

Hey Steve,

Thank you. No this one was not in Arabia.

When I said that there was Indian swords and blades used by Arabs, I ment real time use rather than ardha dance. This I built on 2 family heirlooms, 2 friends own their great grandfather's swords and both are Indian. One has the all steel shamshir like hilt (will try to find similar photos) and the other had hilt with a tiger head. They were used in a time that the swords were used for combat.. The most interesting part is that they werent rehilted.

For the ardha dance, a badawi hilt or Persian style would be far more comfortable.

Tulwars with down-turning handles in my admittedly limited experience always come from the South. This one also has Deccani motive: little balls at the ends of quillons.

Northern handles are as a rule straight.
My 2 cents worth :-)

Good note on the canted pommel being a southern characteristic, if you consider a ayda katti from the Coorgs on the western side. It seems this is a distinctive feature on these.
I would note that the pierced dots in the langet are a feature often seen on Afghan tulwars and from the northern regions, and of course the elongated pommel stem seems aligned with the khanda/firangi group of hilts. There is a profound connection between the Deccan and the Afghan regions along with the obvious context with those routes, so specific regional attribution would be pretty tough.

I think that it's time for a CLASSIC thread on tulwars.....

Well, here is another tulwar (used to be in my collection, sold to a friend.) the hilt is sindh variety which is longer than the usual Indian ones...

The blade is wootz, Assadullah stamp abit worn out. I dont think this is an authentic assadullah though, and the construction of the blade looks Persian at first but the blade has a very short ricasso at the end of the tang..

A bit more
 

Hi All, Thanks for your input. Swords have not been My thing in the past but, they are growing on Me. Searches of old posts bring up the Pedang downward pommel on a firangi pedang . I remembered this miniture and others of hunts using swords and though I can't prove it the downward hilt seems perfect for downward strikes from a horse. Ariel mentioned the little balls at the end of the quillions, in this case they seem to be leaf pedals on a "lotus" bud. Flavio has it exactly right we need a " Clasic Tulwar Thread". I can't offer much information but, stand amazed at the different handling characteristics even these three swords bring out. Any ideas on the era this one started out in. Thanks, Steve

Interesting.... I have always thought that Firangi was from India and Pedang was from Indonesia. Never heard of the combined term before......

correction
 

Stu you are correct. Points out my need for more sword information and definitely double checking my comments. This sword has more Pedang like characteristics. Steve

I think the book that Robert Elgood has coming out in September will have significant notice on tulwars (see Jens' post in swap forum).

A bit more
 

Jim, Books are all important to gleaning information on the things we collect. Your great recall and studies were spot on about this sword. your mentioned of this hilt reminding you of Coorg Ayda Katti hilts left me puzzled, at first I could only find examples of the straight ones.
Ariels and your comment brought me to these examples the piercing on a Tulwar and the plain disc on another Tulwar. I will look for the book when it comes out. Thanks

Salaams Flavio ~ I agree on a classic thread study and have suggested we expand the thread http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...t=10693...into such a resource as it already contains excellent material on hilts etc.

Regards,
Ibrahiim al Balooshi.