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Originally Posted by runjeet@akaalarms.com
A lovely sword, I love these Zoomorphic pieces. I would describe the animal as a Makara, rather than a South Indian Yali. The south Indian Yali or Yarli, is much more grotesque, especially those from the Tamil Nadu area.
The Makara head pommel coupled with the mirrored Makara langets and qullion, is likely to be a flattering copy of those earlier swords produced in Mysore. We see this design regularly on late 19th Century South Indian brass hilted bichawas made in that area. My guess would be that this sword was late 18th Century or early 19th Century and from the Mysore or Deccan, possibly Hyderabad, this would lend itself well to the Islamic script on the blade.
Regards,
Runjeet Singh
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Hello Runjeet,
Thank you for your input...
Interesting note, as the tag the former owner had attached also read, "Moslem Tipso Sultan or Hyder Ali" at the bottom (an obvious reference to Tipu Sultan, which I understood as an attribution of general time frame, not ownership).
And it is encouraging to hear it might indeed have a S. Indian origin... Of all the pieces in my collection (including a Mysore or Tamil bichwa I found in a chor bazaar in Karnataka back in '97 or '99), my wife, who is from Bangalore, finally connected with
this one. I've never seen her take to one of my pieces before, virtually drooling while turning it over in her hand like a pair of Manolo Blahnik's...
