Indians For Guns

Hi to all my Men at Arms

Well a lot of us have been collectors of swords however i feel it might be important to know the types of swords existing in India..the Indian origin brand of swords i should say...

we start with
The Khanda (from Khadga, literally meaning 'sword' in Sanskrit) is a sword unique to India, traditionally associated with the Rajputs, Marathas and other clans of the Kshatriya warrior class of India. It held roughly the same place in Indian society as the Katana did to the Samurai warrior class of Japan. It is also venerated by the Sikh religion, who use it as a symbol.

The khanda is a double-edged straight sword. The blade is usually broad and quite heavy, and broadens from the hilt to the tip. The blade transforms into tip rather abruptly somewhat resembling the tips of ancient Roman swords. The hilt has a small metal spike coming out in the opposite direction which is typical of khanda. Many other straight swords around the world were primarily used for thrusting and stabbing with the tip, whereas the khanda was mainly used to hack or cleave with the edge of the blade.

Nice topic.. There is also another topic termed 'Blades we own' or something like that, where a lot has been discussed...
But, seriously, I guess an 'Indian' based search and mention is most welcome

I am not able to attach images ..can any of the moderators help me

kalashnikovcult";p="62373 wrote: I am not able to attach images ..can any of the moderators help me

Hope this helps:

http://indiansforguns.com/viewtopic.php?p=60293

noooo....i have saved images on my desktop..they arent getting attached ..jpeg is not accepted ..now what ??

KHANDA

kalashnikovcult";p="62376 wrote:noooo....i have saved images on my desktop..they arent getting attached ..jpeg is not accepted ..now what ??

You need to upload your pictures on your desktop onto Pohotobucket and then post the link in your post. Please go through the link TenX provided. Thanks


Best-
Vikram

Keep the lessons coming kc. Hope it's a long series.

Ashok

A talwar, talwaar, or tulwar is a type of sword, equivalent to the European sabre (or saber), originating in medieval South Asia dating back to at least the 13th century. It bears a resemblance to the Persian shamshir and the Turkish kilic. The difference is that the blade of a talwar is wider than the blade of a shamshir. Due to its growing popularity in the Mughal Empire, the talwar was also produced in 19th Century Afghanistan in form of the "Afghani talwar," or pulwar. Late examples often had European-made blades, set into distinctive Indian-made hilts.

It may have replaced the unique khanda sword of ancient India as the sword of choice in medieval Indian armies.

Although the Tulwar was influenced by foreign weapons, India has several unique bladed weapons, entirely native to the subcontinent, including the Khanda, Katar, Pata and Urumi. The distinctive looking Indian wootz steel was known across Asia as uniquely flexible and strong, and was used to construct many of these weapons.

The Patta sword of Maharashtra. These were used by the Marathas. The blade is semi flexible.

Hi,

Thanks for the nice informative pics.Could you please resize your pictures to 640X480 size so that one need not scroll them from side to side? The RSM won't be happy to see them.You can do so by simply using the sizing option on photobucket.Thank you.

Best-
Vikram

Great pics... Thanks a bunch

Perhaps, you could shed some light on the Sikh Khanda(quite different from the rajput one cos its sides were concave not straight) and the Sikh Nagani(a sword wid the shape of a snake's curves). I saw these at the Golden Temple Museum but did not find any info on the net.
Regards,
R.Dhillon.