The smell of the Indian swords.

Jens Nordlunde · 9th January 2005, 05:21 PM

The text below is from Robert Elgood’s book ‘Hindu Arms and Ritual’, page 206. Translated from Nujum al-Ulum, chapter 7, 1570. The Cherster Beatty Library, Dublin.

When tried and experienced it was found that the smell of the (good) sword should be like a lotus flower or a kaner/chanar flower, which is found everywhere in India; or it could smell like must (mad), the smell of an elephant in rut, or like the smell of certain oils. The indications of a bad (mazmum) sword are that the johar resembles poisonous leprosy sores, or that it bears on it the forms of a headless man, a kite or any of the forty-seven (or forty-nine) forms of scorpion. That the sword bears irregularities or cracks and does not ring true when struck. That in appearance it does not look well, or that it smells like the fat (charbi) from a fat-tailed sheep. Or that it smells like cows' urine, slimy mud, animals' guts or the blood of a tortoise (dallak pusht). The use of such a sword in time of war, or the carrying of such a sword in peacetime, is inauspicious.
The next thing that should be known concerning swords is that, if there are undulations on the sword blade that one wishes to make flat or, if the sword is extremely long and one wants to cut the blade down, the job should be done with a file and not with an instrument like an ishkanah12 or a hammer and the like, because we have come to the conclusion after experience that work done in this latter fashion does not have good results and leaves inauspicious influences in the sword.

So, run to the wall and start sniffing

9th January 2005, 05:21 PM	#1
Jens Nordlunde Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Europe Posts: 2,718	The smell of the Indian swords. The text below is from Robert Elgood’s book ‘Hindu Arms and Ritual’, page 206. Translated from Nujum al-Ulum, chapter 7, 1570. The Cherster Beatty Library, Dublin. When tried and experienced it was found that the smell of the (good) sword should be like a lotus flower or a kaner/chanar flower, which is found everywhere in India; or it could smell like must (mad), the smell of an elephant in rut, or like the smell of certain oils. The indications of a bad (mazmum) sword are that the johar resembles poisonous leprosy sores, or that it bears on it the forms of a headless man, a kite or any of the forty-seven (or forty-nine) forms of scorpion. That the sword bears irregularities or cracks and does not ring true when struck. That in appearance it does not look well, or that it smells like the fat (charbi) from a fat-tailed sheep. Or that it smells like cows' urine, slimy mud, animals' guts or the blood of a tortoise (dallak pusht). The use of such a sword in time of war, or the carrying of such a sword in peacetime, is inauspicious. The next thing that should be known concerning swords is that, if there are undulations on the sword blade that one wishes to make flat or, if the sword is extremely long and one wants to cut the blade down, the job should be done with a file and not with an instrument like an ishkanah12 or a hammer and the like, because we have come to the conclusion after experience that work done in this latter fashion does not have good results and leaves inauspicious influences in the sword. So, run to the wall and start sniffing