Help with Identification Please

[Jim McDougall]

This tulwar truly is an anomaly, and I have never seen one with one of these blades either. I agree with Rsword that the blade resembles those of Assam dao. With this region being far from the normal tulwar 'habitat', the first question is has been agreed, how long have these incongruous components been together.
From what I can see of the metal discoloration in both hilt and blade, both seem concurrent and it does seem the piece does have some age. With these things all considered, it would be difficult to identify the region of provenance likely for this weapon with any certainty. It is difficult enough to specify regions for tulwars, even without this blade anomaly, aside from the general regions associated with them, primarily NorthWest India.

If this sword is genuinely mounted in period, as it appears, it seems it quite possibly have been mounted for an individual in northwest regions with what have been a heirloom form blade. During the British Raj, there were many paramilitary and auxiliary units as well as police units. It is my understanding that these units often supplied personal weapons, and I wonder if either someone from Assam may have been in such a unit in the northwest, or if possibly there were such units outside the military in Bengal. Bengal is of course adjacent to Assam, and there were of course the famed 'Bengal Lancer' units, who did carry tulwars.

There are I believe dhas with blades like these as well (as already indicated) and given British presence in Burma and environs, the same thoughts may apply here also.

Pure speculation of course, but thought I would just add it just in case anyone else might consider plausible.

The 'smoking tulwar' would be of course if other examples were found with these blades, and provenanced!

All best regards,
Jim

[RhysMichael]

Originally Posted by Jim McDougall

This tulwar truly is an anomaly, and I have never seen one with one of these blades either. I agree with Rsword that the blade resembles those of Assam dao. With this region being far from the normal tulwar 'habitat', the first question is has been agreed, how long have these incongruous components been together.
From what I can see of the metal discoloration in both hilt and blade, both seem concurrent and it does seem the piece does have some age. With these things all considered, it would be difficult to identify the region of provenance likely for this weapon with any certainty. It is difficult enough to specify regions for tulwars, even without this blade anomaly, aside from the general regions associated with them, primarily NorthWest India.

If this sword is genuinely mounted in period, as it appears, it seems it quite possibly have been mounted for an individual in northwest regions with what have been a heirloom form blade. During the British Raj, there were many paramilitary and auxiliary units as well as police units. It is my understanding that these units often supplied personal weapons, and I wonder if either someone from Assam may have been in such a unit in the northwest, or if possibly there were such units outside the military in Bengal. Bengal is of course adjacent to Assam, and there were of course the famed 'Bengal Lancer' units, who did carry tulwars.

There are I believe dhas with blades like these as well (as already indicated) and given British presence in Burma and environs, the same thoughts may apply here also.

Pure speculation of course, but thought I would just add it just in case anyone else might consider plausible.

The 'smoking tulwar' would be of course if other examples were found with these blades, and provenanced!

All best regards,
Jim

Excellent Points Jim

I will speculate it is not an example of a composite piece, and that the sword may have been made this way from the start.. And who knows maybe the picture below will point in the direction of the "smoking tulwar".

Kahnjar1 it appears there may have been a great deal of Inidian influence in parts of Burma which may be a clue to your sword

Control of Assam, Manipur, Arakan and the Tennasserim was granted to Calcutta after the first Anglo-Burmese war,

After the second Anglo-Burmese war (1852-53) Britain annexed Lower Burma and made it a province of India.

In "AN AUSTRALIAN IN CHINA
BEING THE NARRATIVE OF A QUIET JOURNEY ACROSS CHINA TO BURMA"
BY
GEORGE ERNEST MORRISON, 1902

he says
"There is a wonderful mixture of types in Bhamo. Nowhere in the world, not even in Macao, is there a greater intermingling of races. Here live in cheerful promiscuity Britishers and Chinese, Shans and Kachins, Sikhs and Madrasis, Punjabis, Arabs, German Jews and French adventurers, American missionaries and Japanese ladies."

Wikipedia ( a source that can be good or bad depending on who posted it)says ""British Rangoon was heavily populated by Burmese Indians in British colonial times constituting 53% in Rangoon alone at its peak (c. 1930). The Burmese dubbed the city kala myo (Indian town) and even the Bamar and the Chinese residents of Yangon learnt to speak Hindi."

Mark noted in another forum that during the first Burmese war "The Burmese general, Bandula, was killed during an artillery bombardment of a fort. He was found to be wearing a mail-and-plate cuirass of Indian design." I hope he can add more on this

There is a picture of King Thibaw ( Thibaw Min, Tibau the Burmese king spoken of in Burmese Days by George Orwel) with a Tulwar. Thibaw and his immediate family went into exile in India after the fall of Mandalay. After that the Viceroy of India issued proclamation annexing Upper Burma ( Burma remained a province of British India until the late 1930's and during that time Burma was sometimes called "Further India") .

So back to my original comment. There are other documented cases kings preference in a sword affecting things for a short time. Didn't this happen with Emperor Qianlong in China where he had swords with hilts in the Mugal style ? There are also cases where troops from other lands influenced weapons of the lands they were stationed in, It to me seems very reasonable that there could have been a period where dha were made with tulwar hilts. They probably did not become mainstream. They certainly did not become popular. Just a thought feel free to tell me where my thinking is flawed

Whatever the consensus turns out to be on this. It is wonderful piece and I thank you for sharing it.

[RhysMichael]

I should have noted this in the other Bhamo is a city in Kachin State in northernmost part of Myanmar. If I remember correctly blades of this shape have also been atributed to the Kachin. The Kachin are also called the Singpho in the Lohit district of India. Another Indian-Burma connection.