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8th September 2022, 11:13 PM | #1 | |||
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Thanks for the positive responses both of you! What I wrote is mostly the result of me pouring over and analyzing every detail of every single example of a congavellum I could find on the net. Indeed, these things are quite rare, but they tend to pop up with a strange regularity when you know what to look for.
In response to Jim Quote:
Aruval - The tamil term for a type of long billhook machete. Whether or not this term could be applied to a historical form of sword remains to be seen, as no examples of true antique aruvals (that is to say billhook-esque swords originating from tamil nadu) exist to my knowledge. Kathir Aruval - The clear agricultural version of an aruval, taking the form of a slightly-more-elaborate-than-usual sickle, but otherwise intended more as a ceremonial implement than a weapon. Koduval - The Malayali term for a machete, koduval appears to apply exclusively to machete tools, rather than machete-swords, so it is a red herring here. Possibly, the term could be applied to the swords used by the mappila people, given how close they look to modern koduval machetes, but this remains to be determined. Linguistically it might be distantly related to congavellum. Kongavela - Seemingly used interchangeably with congavellum, it's possibly a kind of intermediary between congavellum and the previous term koduval. Possibly could be used to refer to the 18th century variety of congavellum that are more sickle-like and less sword-like. Matchu/Machchu - Karnataka's distinct take on the "chopper" design, the term "Matchu" as collectors use it applies to all malabar choppers with long handles and short blades - in essence the southern parallel to the northern Bhuj knife-axe. Worth noting that in Kannada "Machchu" just means "machete", so in terms of historical accuracy any chopper that found its way into karnatakan lands would have been called a matchu. Veecharuval - The long, two-handed version of an aruval (veech indeed translates to something like "long" or "big" in tamil). Interestingly, in contrast to the absence of extant antique aruval, quite a few of these large, two-handed, billhook-like swords from tamil nadu still exist. Although it's possible they were used as large agricultural tools, based on the forms of extant veecharuval it seems likely they were more used for ritual executions and - before that - possibly in combat as well. And of course there is also Congavellum - A kind of forwards curving sword used by the Nayar warrior-kings in the late medieval-early modern period of malabari history. After being deposed by the Travancore kingdom, the nayars adopted their own kind of tulwar-style val (the Kayamkulam Val as collectors know it (val being the generic word for sword in malayali)), while continuing to make congavellum, but likely using them mostly for ceremonial purposes instead of martial ones. I'll try to attach pictures to correspond with each of these words, however some don't line up with anything, and others are easier to find as modern tools than as antiques. This also doesn't include congavellum of course as I already showed them in my last post. In response to Drac2k Quote:
Quote:
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9th September 2022, 06:57 PM | #2 |
Arms Historian
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Route 66
Posts: 9,896
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Nihl,
This is pure textbook!! and amazing. That is you have literally compiled a textbook status resource on these weapons that is what is needed for those who collect in these areas. You were incredibly fortunate to have had your contact with the late Mr.Elvis who seems to have had formidable knowledge in identifying these esoteric weapons. Actually luck is one of the most valuable factors in collecting, and the items found purely through serendipity are all the more wonderful as they often have yet to be told stories. Also a great source is the stalwart Rsword!!! who has always had remarkable skills in finding the most unusual and remarkable arms examples in the many years I have known him here. Thank you very much for the time and effort in compiling and sharing this here! Jim |
4th December 2023, 12:08 PM | #3 |
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Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: Moscow, Russia
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This is a common type of peasant tool throughout India (including Northern India) and is still used as a weapon.
It has different names depending on the region, often as a simple derivative of the word "sickle". You can even find it from Dr. Pant book. |
4th December 2023, 05:59 PM | #4 |
Vikingsword Staff
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: The Aussie Bush
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Mercenary,
Thank you for pointing out the widespread use of similar sickle-shaped knives. A few years ago, I posted pictures of a hansia from Nepal/Northern India which fits into this discussion. That thread can be found here. The design is very commonly found as a tool that could be used as a weapon if needed. |
7th December 2023, 03:22 PM | #5 | |
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Quote:
The point is that in origin all such items were sickles for agricultural work, as their names suggest. hansia - sickle Arival or aruval - sickle All other names that include "arival" are different types of sickles. "Val" means "sharp tool" like saw, plough, scissors and of course sickle and sword. Congavellum = Kongaval (from Egerton). I suppose it was in original "caan val" (Malayalam) or "konam val" (Tamil) - a curved sword. Last edited by Mercenary; 7th December 2023 at 04:11 PM. |
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9th December 2023, 01:16 PM | #6 |
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A similar but better example sold at Olympia auctions in London on 6 December. Pic available on the website.
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9th December 2023, 05:20 PM | #7 | |
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Join Date: Feb 2018
Posts: 90
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Quote:
Also just a tangent since I have done more research into these odd swords since I first made my earlier posts: The proper spelling, I have found, is indeed "kongkavaal". "Kongk" is the tamil-malayali adjective describing something that is bent or dramatically curved, whilst "vaal", as established earlier in this thread, means sword. Dravidian languages are agglutinative mind you all, so adjectives and other "word modifiers" are simply attached to the beginning/ends of words (instead of being seperate words themselves), just like how prefixes and suffixes work in english. The use of a double "a" in "vaal" is just to emphasize the fact that a long/open "a" is how the vowel should be pronounced, and while it might seem silly or "extra" to some, it's not all that uncommon to see Tamil (and other dravidian) people online transliterate their language in this manner, taking special care in how they write vowels and designate emphasis (I have seen, for example, vaal written as "vaaL", with the idea being that the capital L shows how emphasis is placed on pronouncing that consonant). All other versions of spelling this word are basically corruptions of kongkavaal, like "kongavela" and "congavellum", the latter of which is basically the anglicized version of "kongkavaalam", which is the form of kongkavaal used to specifically refer to a single, physical example. |
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