"A Passion for Indian Arms" Book Review

ariel · 24th December 2017, 10:47 PM

Under normal circumstances I would agree that a single medial hole, filled or not, in the case of Jens’ sword and the one in #42 is just a remainder of the old brace. I do have a saber with an old European blade and Indo- Muslim ( Tulwar) handle the ricasso of which bears a footprint of an earlier brace of a basket hilt and an unfilled hole for a rivet.

However , in both cases presented here, there is not one but several such plugged holes in tight formations. I am unaware of any old khanda or patissa swords where the brace of the basket handle required so many tightly- grouped rivets at its distal end. One would have to postulate histories of several basket hilts to which these blades were attached. This would be highly unusual.

I think Jens is correct invoking some “talismanic” meaning, the nature of which is unknown to me. But the use of these holes for purely “engineering” purposes
is dubious.

24th December 2017, 10:47 PM	#23
ariel Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Ann Arbor, MI Posts: 5,503	Under normal circumstances I would agree that a single medial hole, filled or not, in the case of Jens’ sword and the one in #42 is just a remainder of the old brace. I do have a saber with an old European blade and Indo- Muslim ( Tulwar) handle the ricasso of which bears a footprint of an earlier brace of a basket hilt and an unfilled hole for a rivet. However , in both cases presented here, there is not one but several such plugged holes in tight formations. I am unaware of any old khanda or patissa swords where the brace of the basket handle required so many tightly- grouped rivets at its distal end. One would have to postulate histories of several basket hilts to which these blades were attached. This would be highly unusual. I think Jens is correct invoking some “talismanic” meaning, the nature of which is unknown to me. But the use of these holes for purely “engineering” purposes is dubious.