The Components of The Indian Tulwar
Figure 1: An overview of the basic components of a 19th century Tulwar.
Introduction
This article covers one of the dominant swords found in the Indo-Persian arms and armour collecting field and is one of the most varied types of swords found within it. When looking at the basic anatomy of the tulwar we can see that it consists of two main sections: the “Hilt” (Punjabi: Mutha= Fist) and the “Blade” (Punjabi: Patha= leaf). Although the basic components of a sword are common knowledge among antique weapon collectors, the unique characteristics which sets Tulwars apart from most swords, can be quite easily overlooked or generalise. This article aims to elucidate the terminology which can be difficult to grasp to newcomers, especially if they haven’t experienced Indian Tulwars in their collecting journey or act as a refresher for those who have.
The Hilt
The common form of Indian Tulwar hilts consist of 6 fundamental sections: the pommel cap, disc, grip, quillon block, quillon and langet. Figure 1 outlines the positioning of these various elements on the hilt. Figure 2 outlines the upper portion of the Tulwar pommel. Although these are common features the Tulwar shown above also has a rarer feature found on better condition and quality tulwars, the lanyard ring. One section that is also commonly found on tulwar hilts are the knucklebow region, a guard for the knuckles and fingers which is not seen on the above the tulwar.
Figure 2: Outline of components of the pommel of the Tulwar hilt
The “lanyard ring” or “Nath”, a term which was more commonly used to describe a type piercing jewellery such as hooped earrings or nose rings, functioned as the anchor for the wrist strap. The wrist strap would be part of the tulwar and, just as the lanyard ring itself, rarely survives on examples so provides a rarity to a tulwar when found.
The “pommel cap” or a “Katori” in Punjabi is the section which provides an anchor to the disc of the tulwar hilt and mainly through friction holds the disc between the upper projection of the grip and the main body of the grip. Usually these are parts of the hilt are highly decorative and tend to have two common forms, “Sunburst” (Punjabi: Suryabans), as seen in figure 2, or “Domed” which lacks protrusion from the centre (Punjabi: Chandrabans). These are thought to be attributed to the Sun lineage or “Surya-bansi” and Moon lineage or “Chandra-bansi” of the kshatriya- the Indian warrior caste. Although there are no set designs, Indian workshops in various regions would have variations on this decorative region of the hilt and can be used to denote provenance of a piece.
The “disc” of an Indian tulwar is one of its most unique properties. It provides a constraint to wrist movement which would prevent overextension of the wrist and forced the warrior to originate his strikes from the upper back and shoulder in a more drawing cut manner. These can usually be found as straight, upward semi-domed, or tilted. This can either denote provenance, if we look at pulwars, the Afghan variant of the tulwar with its upward semi-domed disc. Or it can denote a preference of the wielder and his specific fighting style.
The “grip” is as described, the region where one would grip the sword. These can come in various designs and materials but are largely similar on most hilts, again, variation in this section allows us to denote provenance of a piece.
The “quillon block” is found under the grip and from this block extends out section of steel known as quillons which behave almost as a cross guard however do not provide much protection against blade strikes and mainly prevent the hand slipping down onto the blade. Various shapes and degrees of extension from the quillon block provides an element of variation which can denote provenance of a piece.
The last section of the hilt is the “langet”, these are strips of metal which extrude outward over the blade of the tulwar. This element of the hilt usually functioned as a gripping mechanism for scabbards. Again, just as all other sections of the hilt, variation within this allows us to denote the region from which this tulwar was made.
The Blade
One section which is not shown is the region which joins the tang of the tulwar blade to the hilt. Blades were commonly mounted on tulwar hilts using a very strong adhesive known as “Laakh”, a pitch type of material which would be heated and filled the inside of the hilt. The blade would then be held in place as the pitch hardened and once hardened would make a strong bond, setting the tang of the blade within the hilt.
The “ricasso” is a blunt region of the blade, although not objectively agreed upon, is thought to be of functional use, wherein the wielder of the tulwar would place a finger on the ricasso, over the quillon to allow for more space/ greater manipulation of the blade, however this is based on European swords bearing a ricasso. Another suggestion is that the ricasso is a form of futureproofing of the tulwar. If it were to be resharpened or the edge be re-honed, where hilt removal would not be convenient the blade could be held firmly by the ricasso and be honed safely. If the blade and hilt are original to each other the ricasso length roughly matches the length of the quillon and is an interesting observation which has not been discussed and may possibly suggest in favour of this, however, much more research is required to categorically determine the reason for the ricasso on Tulwars. It is occasionally seen on higher quality pieces the ricasso tends to bear markings of the bladesmith or be decorated with koftghari.
The” spine” of the blade refers to the back of the blade, usually blunt and flat however we can see several categories of spines: T-spine, fullered, flat, rounded, or undulating in a wave type form. This will not be discussed in this article however, varying blade types of Tulwars have varying types of spines. For instance, “Teghas”, a broad bladed sword, usually possesses a “T-spine” type spine. Depending on the Tulwar, the spine usually transitions to a “false edge” through a “yelmen” period about two thirds of the length of the blade.
The” yelmen” of the blade is the section of the blade where the spine transition into the “false edge” of the blade. Depending on the provenance of the piece, the yelmen can either be subtle (as is in this example) or more formed into a step or cube shape, though this is not a common feature on Indian Tulwars and could suggest an influence or provenance to Persia or Afghanistan.
The “false edge” of the blade refers to the final section of the blade which is known as a “false edge” as it possesses a bevel but is not sharpened, hence false edge. This is usually due to It being the region where parrying of an opponent’s blade occurs and having a thinner and sharper edge, leads to less control over the opponent’s strike. However, there are also tulwars which have sharpened false edges to be used in battle, this is down to the wielder’s personal preference and training.
The “fuller” of the blade is usually a section of the blade where a groove or multiple grooves have been cut into the blade. This was mainly used to reduce the blades overall weight and is usually incorrectly referred to as “blood grooves”. Types of fullering are not discussed here but there can be a number of narrow fullers usually ranging from 2-5 of equal or of varying lengths and widths.
The “edge” of the blade is the cutting section of the edge. Usually, the whole length of the blade after the ricasso and tends to be the section of the blade which gives the sword its function of separating the living or wounded, from the dead. This then leads to the “tip”, which is the top of the blade. Although the tip of a sword is commonly used for stabbing, Tulwars were curved blades and mainly cutting weapons, therefore the tip was not used to stab in common fighting methods.
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