Nair sword for datation
 

Hi everybody,
I had the opportunity to buy this Nair’s sword from auction’s, This sword had been catalogued as medieval sword by Thomas Del Mar So I 'm wondering how we could determinate the period from such sword.
Would like opinions and comments.

Regards

more pics
 

more

One of the best references for these is Elgood's "Hindu Arms and Armor". He shares a number of museum examples that largely date from the 16th and 17th century. When you are trying to date earlier examples you have to go to stone sculptures and look for stylistic clues for dating purposes. The earlier examples were battle ready swords with blades meant for business. The later examples have thin blades and we're ceremonial in nature. Some of these can be quite old. I'm sure others might jump in on age estimation but my guess on this one would be 16th or 17th century.

South Indian flamboyant
 

Rawson, in his book The Indian Sword, lists this style as South Indian flamboyant. His Figure 20 shows a sword with similar style of hilt and blade that was in the Victoria and Albert Museum (K.L. 4)--it is catalogued as being from South India, probably Madras, 16th Century.

Hope this helps.

Ian.

hi Ian

Thank you for those information’s by the way if you have the time to make a scan from this page in would be really nice..
Regards

Jean-Luc

hello,
Many thanks for those references if you have some scans from similar sword it would be nice to see it.

Best

Jean-Luc

South Indian flamboyant
 

Here is the Rawson picture. It looks to be a close match to your sword.

Note: Not all Old Hindu hilts are found on Nair swords. The Madras origin for Rawson's example would put the sword on the East coast of southern India, not the West coast where the Nair were located.

Ian

Thank you Ian

It's really a similar example

Best
Jean-Luc