Tulwar Hilt Types

[Gavin Nugent]

Originally Posted by Jens Nordlunde

When it comes to the tulwar hilts there are a few things, which we should not forget.

Many hilts were made in series, and maybe the decoration as well. Some hilts were made after the customers wish and so would the decoration be. Our problem is, that we don’t have any indications of how many were made after the customers wish and how many were pre fabricated.

The pre fabricated hilts and the pre made decoration would, most likely, have been made according to the fashion used at the time and place where it was sold – even hilts sold in other parts of India could have been of this kind. However the custom made hilts and decorations can differ quite a bit from the first type – we will never know for sure.

These are some of the things, which makes it difficult to place a hilt with 100% certainty.

Jens,

Breaking the hilt types down further, have you ever looked in to the actual process of the piecing together of the no less than 10 different pieces to create the hilt shape before the embellishments are applied?

Here is another example for display that I have been saving for a rainy day.

Gav