Takouba with five fullers

[Jim McDougall]

This is a most interesting aspect of the takouba, and the discussion thread opened by Peter, which is great as the interest here on the topic had gone pretty dormant.

I agree with Ed's note toward likely significance of the blade having five fullers being associated with symbolic meaning, probably talismanic or apotropaic. This sword with fully rebated point seems likely to be for a tribal leader, and the presence of only one dukari moon seems curious, again since atypical possibly having certain arcane meaning. The meaning of the two moons I dont think has ever been fully understood, despite its consistency in convention.

It seems that in Rodd (1928) he mentions two types of blades, one with three fullers, the other with five. One of the key factors regarding blades to native warriors is magic, and these kinds of features, including the 'dukari' (opposed crescent moons) all have some element of such imbuing.
The blades Rodd describes are native made, termed 'masri' and seem likely to have been Hausa made.

The association with the numeric FIVE having certain religious significance as related to Persian poems and symbology well known on kaskara, and of course in Sudanese context of course has to do with the Persian and Sufi influences there.

There were far more connections between the Tuareg in Saharan regions and Sudan than many realize. In Briggs (1965) the markings he notes which occur on the blades of important chiefs in Air during the Kaocen revolt (1916-17) also became well known on Sudanese kaskara. Briggs also shows a kaskara, well covered in thuluth and obviously Sudanese as Hausa due to the dukari moons.

I have understood that in Air regions of Niger, Tuaregs followed the Maliki Sect of Sunni Islam, as well as Sufi which coexisted in the nominal adherence to both. The profound influence of Sufi and Persian weaponry in Mahdist Sudan was described in a paper by Pradines and Mostagh in 2018. Those influences traveled westward with trade caravans to many points in the Sahara, with Air significant among them.