Ethnographic Arms & Armour - View Single Post

ariel · 18th March 2005, 02:45 AM

It is interesting that the best (available!) books on the subject of "Oriental" arms and armour are of European authorship: Persian weapons by Chodynski, Turkish by Astvatsaturyan, Indian and Arabian by Elgood , Indonesian by van Zonneveld, African by Spring, a whole slew by the Brits (Rawson, Robinson, Egerton, North) and , of course, encyclopedias by Stone , Blair/Tarassuk , and major works by Nicolle and Lebedynsky.
The Japanese wrote very extensively on their own weapons, but with this exception I am aware only of Pant's 3-volume set on Indian weapons and the new Ensiklopedia Kris (don't have it and forgot the name) as "native" books.
Is it because of the "academic pursuits" encouraged in the Western cultures or simply because we are just plain ignorant on the local scholarship?
Are there any truly important books on Oriental arms written by the native authors?
I do not want my input to be misconstrued as "Eurocentric" and dismissive of native scholarship; on the contrary, I really would like to get some info on important " horse's mouth" books.

18th March 2005, 02:45 AM	#7
ariel Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Ann Arbor, MI Posts: 5,503	It is interesting that the best (available!) books on the subject of "Oriental" arms and armour are of European authorship: Persian weapons by Chodynski, Turkish by Astvatsaturyan, Indian and Arabian by Elgood , Indonesian by van Zonneveld, African by Spring, a whole slew by the Brits (Rawson, Robinson, Egerton, North) and , of course, encyclopedias by Stone , Blair/Tarassuk , and major works by Nicolle and Lebedynsky. The Japanese wrote very extensively on their own weapons, but with this exception I am aware only of Pant's 3-volume set on Indian weapons and the new Ensiklopedia Kris (don't have it and forgot the name) as "native" books. Is it because of the "academic pursuits" encouraged in the Western cultures or simply because we are just plain ignorant on the local scholarship? Are there any truly important books on Oriental arms written by the native authors? I do not want my input to be misconstrued as "Eurocentric" and dismissive of native scholarship; on the contrary, I really would like to get some info on important " horse's mouth" books.