Indian Mace

[weapons 27]

Originally Posted by estcrh

Brian, I am a little bit suspicious of this mace, it has the look of some recently made reproductions from India. Did it come from a reputable dealer? Some clear close up shots may help. Here is a link were you can see some other examples. https://www.pinterest.com/worldantiq...persian-maces/

I have the same impression on seeing this mace .I think indeed it was recently manufactured and artificially aged by some Hindu seller on eBay !!

[sirupate]

What a marvelous thread

[estcrh]

Originally Posted by weapons 27

I have the same impression on seeing this mace. I think indeed it was recently manufactured and artificially aged by some Hindu seller on eBay !!

Compared to the maces that have been posted, the patina/look of the metal is just not right but it could just have been badly stored. Are the spikes threaded into the head, is there any koftgari decoration, did it come from India? I have been wrong before which is why more detailed images would be of help in determining its authenticity.

Here is one that I own, the metal has a heavy dark patine but it is smooth and you can see koftgari decoration through it. The spikes are threaded, it looks like one spike has been replaced, the shaft is slightly bent and the head is also slightly loose, battle damage or some past owner taking a swing with it?

[estcrh]

Here is an example of a reproduction/fake Indian spiked mace, for comparison I have shown the head of the mace being discussed next to the head of a know fake one.



Old Indo Persian Steel Mace

Up for sale all Steel Horseman Warrior Spiked Mace .
Mace with multiple pointed spikes , hollow round shaft and round shape bottom tip.
Mace is rusted / Patina and wear and tear is there.
Dimension verall length 89 cm or 35 inches approx
weight = 1244 grams.

[estcrh]

Originally Posted by Emanuel

The bull/demon head maces are basically hollow and are relatively thin sheets of metal - will likely deform on impact, dispersing much of the force

Some info on bull headed maces.

By: Manouchehr Moshtagh Khorasani:
One of the most effective weapons against armored opponents on the battlefield was the mace. Gorz (mace) is mentioned very often in the Shahname. The Parthian and the Sassanian heavy cavalry made extensive use of maces. This tradition was set forth after the Muslim conquest of Iran. The Khorassanian troops of Abu Moslem Khorassani prided themselves in the usage of maces. In later periods, we also see an extensive use of the maces during the Safavid, and Afsharid periods. Beautiful maces from the Zand and even Qajar period are also extant. Maces had a double function, both as a war instrument and as a symbol of authority and power. Different types of maces were used on the battlefield, but in general Iranian maces can be divided into three different categories: a) maces with round heads, b) flanged/ studded maces, and c) human or animal-head maces (see Moshtagh Khorasani, 2006:in print). The usage of human or animal-headed maces has a very long tradition in Iran, going back to the Bronze Age. Beautiful examples of bronze maceheads with human faces were excavated in Marlik in northern Iran. Other excavated examples of human-headed maces also exist from the Parthian era. The renowned bull-headed face belongs to this category. This mace was originally used on the battlefield and later examples of it were made to symbolize the power and authority. In the Shahname, it is reported that Fereydun used a bull-headed mace to defeat Zahak. The legend has it that Fereydun ordered his smith to make a bull-headed mace since he wanted to revenge the death of the cow, which had fed him as a child, by Zahak. The interesting phenomenon is that the bull-headed mace is still used in the initiation ceremonies of the young Zoroastrians. Ferdowsi uses different terms to refer to the bull-headed mace in the Shahname, such as gorz-e gav-peikar (mace with the shape like a bull) or gorz-e gavsar (bull-headed mace):

Bar avikht ba namdaran be jang/ yeki gorz-e gav-peikar be chang
He started to fight against the renowned [warriors], holding a mace with the shape of a bull in each hand
Taken from the Story “The Kingdom of Zavetahmasp“ (see Yahaghi, 1990/1369:72)

To rafti va shamshir-zan sad hezar/ Zerehdar ba gorz-e gavsar
You went away as if ten thousand swordsmen [went away]
You the armored [one] with a bull-headed mace
Taken from the Story “The End of Keikhosrow“ (see Yahaghi, 1990/1369:347)

Maces from the first and second category are also mentioned in the Shahname and Ferdowsi refers to this type by using the general term gorz (mace). Different adjectives are used in combination with the term gorz, resulting in different collocations. One of the adjectives that occur frequently with the word gorz (mace) is geran (heavy), resulting in the very frequent combination gorz-e geran (heavy mace).

Chegune keshidi be Mazandaran / Kamand kiyani va gorz-e geran?
How did you carry the Kiyanid lasso and the heavy mace to Mazandaran?
Taken from the Story “Keikavus“ (see Yahaghi, 1990/1369:93)

Two other words that are used in the Shahname to refer to mace are gopal and amud. All there terms gorz, gopal, and amud can be used interchangeably to refer to the mace:

Cho divan bedidand gopal uy / Bedarideshan del ze changal-euy
When the demons saw his mace, their hearts were torn by his grasp
Taken from the Story “Keikavus“ (see Yahaghi, 1990/1369:105)

A very interesting collocation is amud-e khamide (literally curved mace). This would only make sense if it described the macehead that is set at 90 degrees to the handle of the mace:

Amudi khamide bezad bar sarash/ ze niru beyoftad targ az sarash
He hit him with a curved mace, making him lose his helmet with the force.
Taken from the Story “The Story of Rostam and Sohrab“ (see Yahaghi, 1990/1369:154)

[Iliad]

Guys,
Just a quick note to say thank you for all the comments. My tiny store of knowledge has become a little larger.
Best regards,
Brian

[estcrh]

Originally Posted by kronckew

19c maces were well past their sell-by date.

Were they? While that may be true in Europe for the most part with the exception of WWI trench maces the same can not be said for India were many armed conflicts are documented during the 1800s between various Indian factions and between Indians and Europeans. In addition Indian soldiers worked for the British Military in various conflicts outside of India were they brought their native weapons with them.

Here are some of the 19th century Indian conflicts.

1803–1805 Second Anglo-Maratha War
1814–1816 Anglo-Gorkha war
1817–1818 Third Anglo-Maratha War
1845-1846 First Anglo-Sikh War
1848-1849 Second Anglo-Sikh War
1850 The Kond tribe revolted in Orissa under leadership of chief Bisoi.
1855 The 'Great Rebellion'by the Santal community against the British in Eastern India
1857–58 Indian Mutany also called Sepoy Mutiny, unsuccessful rebellion against British rule, started in Meerut by Indian troops (sepoys) in the service of the British East India Company.
1857-1858 The Bhil revolted again under the leadership of Bhagoji Naik and Kajar Singh.
1860 The Lushai tribal people raided the then British Tripura and killed 186 British subjects.
1860-1862 The Synteng tribalaintia Hills district|Jaintia Hills in North-East India.
1861 The Juang tribal community revolted in Orissa.
1862 The Koya tribal community revolted in Andhra against tribal landlords called 'Muttader' in tribal dialect.
1863 Ambela Campaign, one of numerous expeditions led by British forces in the border area between the Emirate of Afghanistan and the Punjab Province of British India.
1864-1865 Bhutan War, fought between British India and Bhutan.
1869-1870 The Santal people revolted at Dhanbad in Eastern India against a local monarch.The British mediated to settle dispute.
1879-1880 Second Anglo-Afghan War, fought between the United Kingdom and the Emirate of Afghanistan, when the latter was ruled by Sher Ali Khan of the Barakzai dynasty, the son of former Emir Dost Mohammad Khan. This was the second time British India invaded Afghanistan.
1879 The Naga tribal people revolted in North-Eastern India.
1880 The Koya revolted again at Malkangiri in Orissa under leadership of Tammandora.
1883 The Sentinelese tribal people of Andaman and Nicobar Islands in the Indian Ocean attacked the British.
1887 Third Anglo-Burmese War, also known as the Third Burma War, Following the war, Burma came under the rule of the British Raj as a province of India.
1888 Hazara Expedition, also known as the Black Mountain Expedition or the First Hazara Expedition, was a military campaign by the British against the tribes of Kala Dhaka (then known as the Black Mountains of Hazara) in the Hazara region of what is now Pakistan.
1888 Sikkim Expedition, British military expedition to expel Tibetan forces from Sikkim in present day north east India. The roots of the conflict lay in British-Tibetan competition for sovereignty over Sikkim.
1889 The mass agitation by the Munda against the British in Eastern India.
1891 Hunza-Nagar Campaign, fought in 1891 by troops of the British Raj against the princely states of Hunza and Nagar in the Gilgit Agency (now part of the Gilgit-Baltistan of Pakistan). It is known in Pakistan as the "Anglo-Brusho War".
1891 The tribals of North-East India revolted against the British under leadership of Tikendraji Singh.
1892 The Lushei people revolted against the British repeatedly.
1895 Chitral Expedition, a military expedition in 1895 sent by the British authorities to relieve the fort at Chitral which was under siege after a local coup.
1895 The famous revolt by the Munda tribal community under leadership of Birsa Munda.Later,Birsa was arrested.
1897 Siege of Malakand, Saidullah, a Pashtun fakir led an army of at least 10,000 against the British garrison.
1897–98 Mohmand campaign, British military campaign against the Mohmands, a Pashtun tribe who inhabit the hilly country to the north-west of Peshawar, in the North-West Frontier Province of India, now Pakistan. British punitive expeditions had been sent against the Mohmands in 1851-1852, 1854, 1864, 1879, 1880, but the principal operations were those of 1897-1898.
1897 Tochi Expedition, a punitive visit by Anglo-Indian troops to the Tochi Valley in 1897 to put down a rebellion there. The rebellion started with an attack by the Madda Khel section of the Waziris in June 1897.
1897–1898 Tirah Campaign, an Indian frontier war. Tirah is a mountainous tract of country in what is now a federally administered tribal area of Pakistan.

[Emanuel]

Fully agree with you Ariel. Ceremonial was not applicable there. By the same virtue though, those decorated weapons were not expected to be used in a melee. The cost and maintenance of preserving that gold/silver koftgari in constant use would preclude that.

Originally Posted by ariel

Once again relying on Elgood, I must respectfully disagree.
Of course, richly-decorated weapons must have belonged to the upper crust commanders who, by the very virtue of their rank and military function, were less likely to find themselves in the melee. However, Indian weapons were avatars of deities and as such must have been richly decorated. A Rajah armed with a plain sword could not rely on divine assistance.
Such weapons were not intrinsically wall-hangers: they were just religiously appropriate and possessed mystical content. We see them now well-preserved not for the lack of trying, but because they used to belong to the elite and were stored in royal armories between the campaigns.
And, as in any army, it was the poor schlumps who carried plain weapons into the battle

[estcrh]

The Met Museum has some Persian prints showing several types of mace being used in battle, I thought this would be a good thread to add them to. Images of maces being carried and used are hard to find.


From the Shahnama (Book of Kings) of Shah Tahmasp. Author: Abu'l Qasim Firdausi (935–1020). Artist: Painting attributed to Qadimi (active ca. 1525–65). Folio from an illustrated manuscript.

Links to full sized images, lots of battle scenes.
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com...9972ce0d95.jpg

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com...56fb03b090.jpg

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com...fae200fcfd.jpg