Hunting Tulwar (Tulwar Shikargah)

[Norman McCormick]

Hi Cathey,
Another take on a hunting motif albeit a lot less prominent. This Tulwar hilted Kora of mine has a figure on the blade hunting with a 'boomerang' an image Jens was able to explain. This blade is definitely not a parade item so I can only guess the hunting motif has some significance other than sheer decoration.
My Regards,
Norman.
P.S. The stand of arms has an Indian 'boomerang' used for hunting hares at the apex.

[BBJW]

I suspect the tulwar hilt is a later addition to this kora.-- bbjw

[Jim McDougall]

Thank you Norman!!!!
The interesting 'kora' you have there (I remember it from some great discussions on it and items with similar motif years back) is I believe from Bengal, and close to the border regions with Nepal, hence the odd pairing of kora blade and tulwar hilt.
These, as I have understood, have religious ritual significance of sorts, and may have sacrificial associations like the ram dao.
My example has similar symbolic designs and remnants of red paint inside the pommel disc...the markings on the hilt are I think Bengali.

Cathey, a wonderful example of these impressive blades, which I think were more aligned with court or diplomatic presentation use than actual hunting weapons. With the Mughals, the royal hunt (shikar) derives from the Mongol 'qamargah' (=ring hunt) which is more of a 'battle plan' where men making noise and disturbance drive the animal into a surrounded setting, there it is killed by the royal figure who presides over the hunt.

The Mughals of course, are descended from the Mongols, so these traditions prevail. As Rajputs were also a warrior race, the hunt was similarly important symbolically to represent the strength of the ruler.
The hunt was an event shared by Mughals and Rajputs as they worked out their alliances.

The Mughal attraction to depictions of flora and fauna in their art extended to their weapons and their Sh'ia religious metaphors. The representations of these animals and settings are found, as Norman pointed out, not just on swords but other weapon forms which provided panels for this symbolic art.

A good source for more on these might be a catalog of the exhibition "Decorous and Deadly Weapons of the Royal Hunt" at the Met in New York, Sept. 10, 2015.

While these highly decorated tulwars and shamshirs were unlikely of course to have been used in actuality, they are most important items of Mughal and in degree Rajput figures of high station.

As of course, usual, as noted, the 1851 exhibition heightened collector interest in Indian arms and these immediately were dubbed 'hunting swords'.

[Norman McCormick]

Originally Posted by BBJW

I suspect the tulwar hilt is a later addition to this kora.-- bbjw

I wouldn't think so.
Regards,
Norman.

[BBJW]

I just said I 'suspect' as I have seen several kukris that were circa 1900 that had been fitted with tulwar hilts. I have 2 old koras that are very black with age and have barely visible lotus flowers at the end of the blades.-- bbjw

[Cathey]

Thankyou Norman

Would you mind if I include your shield in my article? From what I have been able to find there are certainly early references to these heavily engraved items as early as the 18th century. It appears Tulwars and in particular Katars where often used for hunting particularly from horseback.

Interestingly the one I acquired recently is well balanced and has an extremely sharp edge. Previously I had always dismissed these items as temple swords, it hadn’t occurred to me that they were actually hunting weapons.

Cheers Cathey

[mariusgmioc]

Hello Cathey,

The fact that a blade has a sharp edge is by no means a sign it is of good quality or that it has practical use. You can give a very sharp edge even to a piece of plastic (think of disposable cutlery). Aluminum foil is very sharp, yet you cannot use it for cutting anything.

One of the defining parameters of the quality of a blade is its edge retention, namely how well it keeps its edge during use.

For a blade to have good edge retention it is very important to have an optimized mix between hardness and toughness. Hardness and toughness are inversely dependent. As hardness goes up, toughness goes down. If hardness is too high, the edge is prone to chipping. If toughness is too high the edge is prone to bending.

Hardness is generally achieved through heat treatment as raw blade steels tend to be rather soft (but tough).

The carved blades generally are not heat treated as any hardening treatment would make them extremely difficult to carve. Also hardening heat treatment cannot be applied after the carving of the blade because the carvings will cause unequal distribution of tension within the blade and will make it prone to bending or breaking.

"Previously I had always dismissed these items as temple swords, it hadn’t occurred to me that they were actually hunting weapons."
Do you have any proof that this kind of blades were used as "temple swords?"
Do you have any proof that this kind of blades "were actually hunting weapons?"
As I said earlier, the fact that the blade is sharp doesn't mean too much in this case.

[kronckew]

Originally Posted by mariusgmioc

…
For a blade to have good edge retention, it is very important to have an optimized mix between hardness and toughness. Hardness and toughness are inversely dependent. As hardness goes up, toughness goes down. If hardness is too high, the edge is prone to chipping. If toughness is too high, the edge is prone to bending.

Hardness is generally achieved through heat treatment, as raw blade steels tend to be rather soft (but tough)....

True, but blades can be differentially heat treated with tougher spines and harder edge. A hard edge steel can be inserted into tougher steel in the main part of the weapon too. Both done historically. A bent blade can be straightened in the field. A broken one cannot.

Carving pre-treatment would make that treatment rather difficult, as you note. Especially if the carvings come very close to the edge.

[Norman McCormick]

Originally Posted by Cathey

Thankyou Norman

Would you mind if I include your shield in my article?

Cheers Cathey

Hi Cathey,
Absolutely no problem, if you need better/different images just let me know.
My Regards,
Norman.

[Jim McDougall]

One thing I think being overlooked is the fact that many animals, birds and other fauna were much admired in Mughal courts as seen in cases with the Mughal emperor Akbar (16th c.). The Mughals were much enamored and influenced by Persian poetry along of course with most everything Persian.

With this, depictions of various animals were used in art metaphorically and allegorically. Notice in these scenes, the animals are in various combative situations with each other, or in some cases unarmed humans are involved.

Akbar was intrigued by cheetahs, and actually captured many with the intent of training them for the hunt. Elephants obviously were used in warfare and hunting.

The tiger is much admired, and feared, and Tipu Sultan was well known with the sobriquet "The Lion of Mysore". His regalia was of course heavily decorated with bubris (tiger stripes) The symbol known as the cintamani
of Timur from whom the Mughal dynasty derived is comprised of lines for the tiger and spots for the cheetah.

Tipu was also known for using metaphor such as a tiger attacking a European in artistic creations, symbolizing his power defeating them.

It seems that it is well represented that shamshirs and tulwars were indeed used in the hunt, however these blades and weaponry highly adorned with various animals appoear to be more toward Mughal admiration of them and perhaps in cases used metaphorically.

In this blade example, we see the individuals apparently training or attempting to control the elephants, which of course was normal as the elephants were used in hunting. The threat of attack by tigers on hunting parties was of course well known.


These seem the more esoteric aspects of these arms worthy of further note here.

Question: are there any examples of these 'hunting' arms which actually show men with weapons hunting the animals? As far as I have seen the depictions of these events are typically in miniatures and similar art.