I would say the flowers on the quillon might be tulips. Tulips are the national flowers of Afghanistan (and Iran) and I believe they have religious significance as well.
Matt, very interesting topic! Do you have a Jezail and would you consider making a video on them? I hear that they were very effective in the hands of Afghan soldiers compared to the British and their firing power.
I was literally looking at that pulwar on your site today to compare it to one I found elsewhere. Ended up getting another smallsword instead, because I can't help myself. Might be worth doing a video on regional differences in tulwar hilts - eg Udaipur hilts with skinny quillons and flat disks, or swanlike, recurved knuckleguards on Rajasthan swords. Different floral decoration in different areas, too. Mostly koftgari, of course. (sidenote on pulwar with knuckle bows - only seen a handful, almost all had north indian floral designs which might indicate some trade of ideas) Some potential sources: 1. "The Indian Sword" P.S. Rawson 1968 2. " Indian Arms & Armour" G.N.Pant, 1980 3. "Handbook of Indian and Oriental Arms and Armour" Egerton,1880, 4. "On Damascus Steel" L. Figiel, 1991 5. "Arms and Armour: Traditional Weapons of India" E Jaiwent Paul,2005
the afghans was famous for cavalry in history. you look at "bozkeshi" game in afghanestan. at least we known them for cavalry and cruelty(historically). they are hard peoples. morteza from persia
Loving these longer videos, Matt. That format suits you much better than, say, Lloyd, IMO. Thank you so much for making them, I do realize you're offering a great service for only optional payments, and I appreciate it a great deal. I hope to become a patreon supporter in the future, but I'm currently semi-homeless, so I have to attend to that first. But I feel bad not supporting you in the way I think you deserve.
+Kali Southpaw Quite right. I can disable adblock for specific youtubers, even, which I do with Matt and Metatron. And I send Matt's vids to anybody who might be even remotely interested. Bit off topic, but the actual historians on AskHistorians take a dim view of these sorts of youtubers...except Matt.
I have to disagree on Afghans importing weapons, we had more own swords like the Khyber sword which we called "Tura" (meaning "sword" in Pashto) and some native double edged straight swords too. You're forgetting that Afghanistan has tons of mineral deposits thanks to our land being mountainous (even a US pentagon report showed Afghanistan having billions worth of minerals) so blade making was natural to Afghans. No doubt we also imported foreign blades from Europe and Persia too but mainly for the Pulwar. Also, regarding cavalry, the Afghans in history were mainly cavalry and use spears and bows while the sword was a backup weapon when dismounted from their horse and i think we introduced cavalry warfare into India. Even the word "Afghan" means "horsemen" in Persian. So the Pulwar no doubt was mainly used by Afghan horsemen. I know this is an old video but i thought i would clear this up.
"The only people who benefit from politics usually are politicians"' -Matt Easton 2017 loving all of your vids, this is the best thing you ever said on your channel!
India consisted of a number of large princely states before Europeans (first Portugese, then French and British) turned up. The relationship between those states and surrounding kingdoms like Afghanistan was very complex. The Europe colonial powers essentially played political and economic chess with the various states and of course if the Napoleonic Wars had gone differently then India may well have ended up French rather than British.
It makes a lot of sense when you explain it that way. Any chance you can recommend a book or an article regarding the political climate of the colonial powers and India/Afghanistan?
John Tse Afghanistan was not a colony nor it had anything to do with india apart from that many Afghan dynasties ruled india until mughal showed up even then an Afghan sher shah suri defeated the mughals and took over whole of india but then he died in an accident i think a cannon blow up and so his sons were fighting each other and mughals showed up and took the throne back
There is a point in the video around the 21:00 minute mark, that some one watching this with no sound will assume that you are doing a puppetry show with sword hilts lololol, and its hilarious.
My comment is a bit unrelated to this video in particular, however does anyone else think it's about time for Matt, Lindy, Shad, Metatron, etc. to start having some discussions on live-stream? The recent uptake in response/reply videos that Matt and other martial arts/military history enthusiasts have been doing on one another tells me there are some great discussions to be had Not saying they have too obviously and it's a fair guess they tend to be quite busy which makes scarcity of time to do such a thing. Just a nagging thought of mine lately, but my hunch is that there are more than a few of you out there who've wanted something akin to the same.
IA King half of Pakistan belongs to Afghanistan they are out tribes and language! but they were divided and have now fully accepted Pakistan as their homeland! some pashtuns in Pakistan still feel connected to the father land Afghanistan, but not enough to reunite! non the less the real pashtuns are loyal to Afghanistan home of the Afghan kings and powerhouse of the pashtuns! united alongside with our noble tajiks Uzbeks and Azara tribes also Baluch!
A couple of notes I thought might be of interest: - I'm under the impression that a great variety of bronze age swords had disk hilts (and in some areas/periods these seem to have been among the most common). This might be of interest for further research. - The advice I received from extant Sikh martial artists (Nidar Singh) was that the Tulwar style hilt should be held in an open grip (with the top and bottom of the hand being engaged the most) and the parts of the hand engaged changes during the motion. So, the complex hand fitting shape isn't meant to weld the hand in place so much as to make it easy to engage different parts of the hand's anatomy for different motions. - The advice also agreed perfectly with Matt Easton's observations about avoiding wrist movement, keeping the ideal cutting angle, and delivering long slicing draw cuts (sometimes starting with a percussive blow at the forte/base of the blade and then moving outward).
I think you've got a very valid point about the pulwar being an earlier point in the evolution of the tulwar on its way from Persia- some of the examples I've seen on the web have extremely curved blades that actually look much more like the shamshir than the Tulwars we're used to seeing, including a very sharply tapering blade quite unlike Indian swords. The upswept quillons are rather unique though, because I don't recall seeing any persian swords with crossguards like that. I've seen the occasional Arab sword that has either one or both quillons droop like that (though in very modern, 'tourist bait' swords rather than museum pieces), so could it have been an influence from there? I've read about Arab mercenaries being quite common in the Northwestern parts of the subcontinent, especially in the 18th and 19th centuries.
As of this week I got my very own pulwar/tulwar pair! My tulwar is quite a bit heavier than the pulwar. Both have kind of kilij-like blades, though the tulwar is slightly longer and thicker. The pulwar is maybe a little more fancy, and has slightly more blocky quillon "flowers" from the one you're showing here. They're not especially light swords, I was kind of surprised. Very cool though. And they kind of feel like they want to make that slashing cutting motion.
Thank you, sir, for yet another highly educational video! You briefly mentioned the relationship between Russia and Afghanistan, and it made me wonder if you might give your thoughts on the Cossack shashka sword. I have a bit of a fascination with them and would enjoy hearing your analysis.
Shaskas had a practically nonexistent hilt and would be substantially more top heavy because of it. They also lacked hand protection of any kind, which suggests they were primarily cavalry sabers. The talwar/pulwar at least seemed to have an itsy bitsy crossguard to theoretically protect your fingers maybe 10% of the time.
Afghanistan is colder than India/Pakistan, so it very well could be size related. In biology/anthropology there is something called "bergmanns rule" which states that inland/coldweather populations are often larger than coastal/warmweather populations. On a more practical level, thicker layers of clothing in cold areas could tip the scales in favor of a hacking cut over a slashing cut.
Matt, regarding your comment about height and nutrition - it's absolutely plausible. I lived in Japan in the early 1990s, and it was easy to see the difference in height from one generation to the next. In fact, the average height in Japan has increased about 14cm since the end of WWII.
MrVvulf I lived in HK in the late 80s and it was the same. I've seen Australian immigration records that suggest that between 1900 and 1950 the average height of Chinese people increased by several inches.
One European sword that comes immediately to mind when you talk about swords hilts forcing someone to use it in a particular way are the last (circa 1914-1940) Cavalry swords with the pistol type grip. Because of the hilt and such, it was definitely meant to be used in one particular way, and in no other.
Is it possible the Afghan's favoured the less restrictive hilt style because their style of fighting, the conditions they fought in, and/or the kind of opponents they fought meant that relying on draw-cuts alone was not as effective as it might have been in India?
I love these swords. I just purchased a tulwar the other day, not too hopeful on it's authenticity or condition but it was described as reasonably nice condition and it was only £69 so worth it if it turns out nice and well built, even if it is fake.
I was in India last year and, in several of the places I went, the people scrubbing the floor and doing other menial work were significantly darker and *smaller* than the other Indians. Not just short, but distinctly tiny. I suspect that these are people from more rural areas of India, since they seemed to be notably different from most that I encountered. So while many modern Indians are of similar height to Europeans, I don't think that's a universal truth. It probably depends on whether they came from the city or the countryside.
Perhaps the Pulwar hilt was an economic, and production consideration, in that they could be produced in a generic size and shape, and be sold to anyone, and then be passed down. The hemi spherical shape would allow much larger hands to use the weapon effectively, albeit not as comfortably. The Tulwar, however, would have something of a hard maximum hand size, and so would be more specifically tailored to a single person. Just a thought!
The actual word is PHUL WAR from native Hindko language of Peshawar which was the winter capitol of Sultanate of Kabul(Afghanistan) until 1815. The word phulwar means blow(war) or attack light as a flower(phul). The hilt end was semi circular and hollow to make the sword lighter and lead or lac balls were put into the hollow part when the sword was balanced(dum brabri) also the semi circle was used during the fight to move the hand down the handle to make the blow harder just like the hands are moved down in using an axe and then pulling back the sword in a drawing and pressing motion in this way all the pressure goes to the front of the sword and usually the front quarter of the phulwar is usually heavy than the lower body of the blade. And to balance this heavy front pieces of lead were put into the hollow hilt. In the older design of the phulwar the hilt is full round like a ball and blades are very heavy (upto 5-6)kg. Some of those swords still survive today but they are very rare now. In 1360s Emir Tymur writes that he has a 7 kg sword(1 mun kadimi) In later times swords were made lighter and more manoverable for faster action and less heavy armour espacially after 17th century due to more use of fire arms.
I think much of the use of cavalry in india is an afghan /persian influence. One can easily forget that many of the rulers of northern indian for a very long time had been non indian originally and they imparted many of their traditions to the subcontinent like the afore mentioned shamshir shaped blades. So it would make perfect sense that the pulwar improved the design for there use. Also the quillions on yours is a very typical and old style that can from the middle east proper.
I am a big fan of the Flashman series of books and always consult your channel to familiarize myself with weapons that are mentioned. In the first Flashman book, the narrator mentions that British officers serving in Afghanistan were advised to use native swords as they were of higher quality than the standard issue cavalry sabers provided by the East India Company. Are you aware of any primary sources indicating that certain British officers preferred pulwars to sabers? Would soldiers in Company service provided with different weapons or equipment than those in the British army proper?
Even in India today, I found myself much taller than I am in South Africa. I'm tall, but in India it was very noticeable that I was looking down on crowds much more. I'm sure that will change in the next 30 years, but at the moment North Indians at least are generally shorter on average in my estimation.
One day I looked up sabre drills and decided to try them out on my dads "Sabre". After five minutes my arm was incredibly sore and I had such a difficult time doing the drills. It turns out that I was swinging a Tulwar... not a sabre.
i find all swords beautifull but i the pulwar and the indian swords are the ugliest for me, mostly for the guard and handle shape. Never the less i loved you talked about them. Great channel.
I think it's a good possibility that because Afghanistan was such a melting pot of martial traditions, from Persia, India, Russia, etc., that the hilt was changed from the traditional Indian Tulwar type to help facilitate the use of a variety of martial styles. An Afghan warrior who was familiar with Persian and Indian styles of swordsmanship for example might have wanted a more versatile hilt to use both effectively, for example.
Afghans are of Indo Aryan stock! This classification tenses them as Caucasians. The called their homeland Ariana, land of Aryans . The name Aryan is used extensively in Afghanistan to both refer to their people and the land. These Aryans spread into Europe and mingled with local people's bringing their language and culture , hence why most of the languages are related to 1 single tongue. Indo European languages. Farsi pashto Hindi Greek.
Hey Matt, great video. Was wondering if you watch of follow black sails and fancied looking at some of the sword+pistol/sword and smallsword combat featured in that show. Recently they've introduced a semi-historical character, Israel Hands, that uses a beaks crow warhammer alongside a cutlass to great effect. Would love to get your take on that!
I have filmed a review of one of the famous fights from Black Sails, but the video is stuck in a copyright dispute. Apparently Starz don't check their emails.
Relevant to the point about how few hilts force you to hold them in certain ways - if you look at bronze age European leaf bladed swords, something I noticed that I haven't seen pointed out by anyone else is that swords from around the area of Hungary have similar looking disc pommels to the tulwar. (example: s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/89/e0/55/89e055ba61239539f6205013001824c2.jpg ) I have never had the opportunity to actually hold one so I can't say for certain it has the same effect - the discs look smaller, but I don't know what the hand sizes at the time were (I *think* smaller, but I'm not sure). But yeah, after watching your original video on the tulwar's disc pommel I thought of this and my pet theory is the same thing might have been happening. These cast discs seem to be specific to that general area (at least every example I've seen is from there). Other areas sometimes have metal bits to the pommels, and are sometimes quite wide, but they're much flatter instead of disc shaped. I've seen some reconstructions that give wooden discs, but I'm not sure on the evidence for them.
The problem is: Afghanistan was all the time poor country of the wild but proud tribes. So, they had no money for horses. So, I do not really believe in the "large number of cavalry in the army of the Afghan Emirs". As I heard, even sabre was not very popular in this army, because it was the "exclusive" weapon of wealthy people. The common Afghan warrior usually used long knife called "the Khyber knife".
Afghans were always fighting on horseback since the times of the ancient Bactrians. Up until the 19th century the Afghans were known for their cavalry forces. Afghans only stopped using cavalry when it became useless against the muskets and cannons.
Wtf? Afghans are not poor, granted it was more "richer" in ancient times as it is know and the word Afghan littearly means "horse rider" because we had the best horses in all of Asia. Our Aryan ancestors were the first people to domesticate the the horse and introduced it into Europe.
I love your videos, but you know too much for your own good :D Sometimes it seems that every time you try to make a point, you remember another detail about this or that and the video becomes another 30 seconds longer. Although, now that I think about it, I guess that's part of the charm. Keep it up. ;)
+scholagladiatoria on the cavalry issue, might it be that despite Afghanistan having less cavalry overall, the greater wealth an Afghan required to possess a pulwar rather than a chora, meant a pulwar-owner was proportionately more likely to be a cavalryman? In comparison to the tulwar being more available to a wider segment of the population in India?
Hey Matt, I remember the last time the pulwar crossguard flowers came up, there was a discussion in the comments about them possibly being poppies, given the importance of opium growing to Afghanistan. An image for reference: www.google.com/search?q=opium+poppy&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjdxLLG3cTSAhUmr1QKHcmUDwwQ_AUICCgB&biw=1600&bih=791#imgrc=U-FE58eLfoSvCM Any thoughts on this? Also, a random thought re: Afghans being bigger -- might there be a dietary reason for this being the case, that being the importance of dairy (and goat products in general) to Afghanistan as sources of protein, whereas India was dominated by rice and lentils, with vegetarianism being a more common practice?
I would suggest that there may be a cultural reason behind the proliferation of the disc-hilt pommel in Indian swords. I don't know specifics, but there have been other times in history where specific styles of hilt or sword have had cultural or sociological reasoning behind their origin; examples range from the cinquedea daggers in Italy which proliferated not because of useful combat characteristics but for fashion and the broadness of the blade providing a good surface for metalwork and etching instead, to messers which are near-identical to falchions blade-wise yet have slimmer knife-constructed hilts for circumventing German ownership laws concerning swords as defined by hilt. So having given examples, my hypothesis would be that the disc-hilt proliferated because of tradition and fashion in lieu of a need to evolve due to combat-related purposes. To understand specifics would require a deeper look at the place of the sword in Indian culture at the time, the availability of swords to the common man with regard to the caste system, and a study of whom swords were made by and for whom and for what purposes in India over the years. Context is key, but I think the main focus should be less on why the Tulwar proliferated, but rather on why it was never supplanted by another evolution of the sword. Looking at Europe the sword kind of comes full circle due to the development of technology driven by constant warfare. We start with ancient short swords, move on to slightly longer viking swords, arrive at single-bladed choppers for carving up unarmored serfs, move on to commonly available armor and an evolution of increasingly pointy can-openers and then after a dabble in civilian dueling swords we arrive back at single-edged unarmored-choppers because of the disappearance of armor from European battlefields due largely to the invention and distribution of cheap firearms. Perhaps if India had a few fewer wars and a bit less commonly available armor time-relative to Europe, their sword design did not have time to evolve to can-openers by the time guns arrived and so sword evolution remained in the slicer-chopper stage rather than moving on to different forms which were unsuited for gun-saturated armorless warfare?
were the pulwars and the tulwars adapted from the mongolian sabers? It feels like the majority of the middle eastern civilizations didn't start using what we consider sabers today until after the mongol invasions.
I havent held a tulwar/pulwar before but im curious about the hilt. Was its really heavy? Is there a chance they were trying to pull back the fulcrum of a saber so it could be whipped around tighter angles to make it function more like a razor than an axe?
could you please do a video on, or recommend some reading on tulwar hilt construction. I really don't understand how glue cand hold a blade in the hilt
One thing Matt has noted in the past is that pretty much all sword using cultures have utilized both straight and curved swords. However, it does often appear that certain regions were more inclined to one style or another at a given point in history. Piecing together what I've learned from Matt and other sources, there's likely a range of reasons to justify a given sword style in various areas. The first thing to look at would be a swords intended use. Curved swords are inclined towards slashing, while straight swords have a superior thrust. Straight swords, as a result, are better against heavily armored opponents. It seems to me that curved swords were most prevalent in areas that generally avoided heavy armor, either due to a hot/humid climate, and/or a lack of good iron/ advanced steel manufacturing. Against a lightly armored opponent, a curved sword would make for deadlier slashes, while its inferior thrusting capacity would still get the job done. Another factor Matt has touched upon is actually fashion. the popularization of sabers in 19th century Western Europe is believed to have its origins in Eastern European hussars, whom Western Europeans sought to emulate in style. This theory is reinforced by the fact that the slightly curved blades on most sabers doesn't really improve their cutting capacity, and can therefore only really be there for looks. Just to reiterate: most cultures used both straight and curved blades throughout their sword using histories. Polish Hussars, for example, would commonly carry both a straight and a curved blade into combat, in addition to a lance and possibly other weapons. The straight sword served as a backup lance, while the curved sword worked well in a melee.
Surely with the variation of talwar disc hilts wealth would be a factor? For example a high ranking soldier from a wealthy family would be more likely to be able to afford to have a talwar made with a bespoke hilt customised to their hand size and personal preference as to how restricted their wrists are whereas a lower ranking individual from a poorer background would be more likely to use an inherited sword or recycle old hilts/swords salvaged from battlefields e.t.c and therefore would have to make do with the best they can get, even if they might prefer a different variation. Is there any evidence for this?
Matt is there any progression from north to south in the flat pommels, ie, Afghanistan to Punjab to Central India to South India? What I mean could the Pulwar type pommel shade into the non flat disk type Tulwar hilt in the Punjab and north India? You are entirely correct that Cavalry was much more important in India than Afghanistan. The Sikh State and Central India had large cavalry forces.
I have not observed a regional tendency in Indian pommels, but honestly there has been so little research done on them that it's possible we're just lacking the data to see it at the moment.
I have only mentioned this topic in passing, because there seems to be almost no relationship. Both types of sword share a common origin in medieval Eastern European and Central Asian sabres. But they evolved mostly separately.
Okay, cool. Would you attribute the spread of the blade design due to the influence of Central Eurasian powers such as the trade of the expanding Gunpowder Empires or more simply the prevalence of a successful blade design of weapons such as the Arab Scimitar, the Persian shamshir and Turkish kilij?
salamut2202 The rise of the sabre in Europe seems to be linked to the adoption of Austro-hungarian cavalry tactics in the late 18th century. The Hungarian sabres were older than Turkish, Persian or Indian curved blades. However curved infantry swords were common in Europe from at least 1600 and are well evidenced in use from 1560.
Is there anyone out there making decent copies? (Also, due to the curved blade, would a modern one fall foul of British laws, that an antique would not?)
Did these Afghan/Indian weapons change in the years after armour was redundant? Were they always sabre-like or were they previously perhaps heavier or more capable of thrusting?
There were specialised anti-armour weapons such as war-picks and maces which became less common in the 19th century. Though in the 18th century armour was still quite prevalent - even at the beginning of the 19th century actually.
So were those used in preference of the Talwar in earlier centuries? Also what armour, exactly, did the Afghans wear and how common was it? The average Afghan, herding goats in the mountains, who appear to make up much of the forces in the 19th century, would not have been able to afford what, say, the Sultan's full time troops or the lords could. This was the same earlier in Europe but eventually even the poorest soldier could afford mail, was this the case in Afghanistan or did many go unarmoured but for some sort of psedo-armour such as quilted jackets,leather jerkins and metal discs?
Ever considered making a little paper face on a popsicle stick? Might be good for tricking your autofocus, getting it to lock in on stuff like...hilts, say.
Lotus needs alot of water and was prevalent in south & east asia (Jammu Kashmir, Bangladesh, Shri Lanka etc) Afghanistan was mostly desert. so any idea why lotus was used for afgani pulwar?
So, despite how things would appear from "The Man Who Would Be King", Afghanis didn't all go around on horse, flailing about over their heads with pulwars.
As an Afghan, I am happy that you have a Pulwar in that condition and you explained it well
Gorgeous sword! "The only people who Usually benefit from Politics, are politicians....." - Brilliant, and True!
Last time i was this early Matt "The Context" Easton didn't invent the name HEMA yet.
He prefers Captain Context, thank you very much.
Leftenant Colonel Context
Captain Discogrey Context
I would say the flowers on the quillon might be tulips. Tulips are the national flowers of Afghanistan (and Iran) and I believe they have religious significance as well.
Matt, very interesting topic! Do you have a Jezail and would you consider making a video on them? I hear that they were very effective in the hands of Afghan soldiers compared to the British and their firing power.
"I just sold this sword so I'm going to make a short video..."
Short. Uh huh. :P
I was literally looking at that pulwar on your site today to compare it to one I found elsewhere. Ended up getting another smallsword instead, because I can't help myself.
Might be worth doing a video on regional differences in tulwar hilts - eg Udaipur hilts with skinny quillons and flat disks, or swanlike, recurved knuckleguards on Rajasthan swords. Different floral decoration in different areas, too. Mostly koftgari, of course.
(sidenote on pulwar with knuckle bows - only seen a handful, almost all had north indian floral designs which might indicate some trade of ideas)
Some potential sources:
1. "The Indian Sword" P.S. Rawson 1968
2. " Indian Arms & Armour" G.N.Pant, 1980
3. "Handbook of Indian and Oriental Arms and Armour" Egerton,1880,
4. "On Damascus Steel" L. Figiel, 1991
5. "Arms and Armour: Traditional Weapons of India" E Jaiwent Paul,2005
Sebastian Szukalski op
the afghans was famous for cavalry in history. you look at "bozkeshi" game in afghanestan. at least we known them for cavalry and cruelty(historically).
they are hard peoples.
morteza from persia
Loving these longer videos, Matt. That format suits you much better than, say, Lloyd, IMO. Thank you so much for making them, I do realize you're offering a great service for only optional payments, and I appreciate it a great deal.
I hope to become a patreon supporter in the future, but I'm currently semi-homeless, so I have to attend to that first. But I feel bad not supporting you in the way I think you deserve.
+Kali Southpaw Quite right. I can disable adblock for specific youtubers, even, which I do with Matt and Metatron.
And I send Matt's vids to anybody who might be even remotely interested.
Bit off topic, but the actual historians on AskHistorians take a dim view of these sorts of youtubers...except Matt.
I have to disagree on Afghans importing weapons, we had more own swords like the Khyber sword which we called "Tura" (meaning "sword" in Pashto) and some native double edged straight swords too. You're forgetting that Afghanistan has tons of mineral deposits thanks to our land being mountainous (even a US pentagon report showed Afghanistan having billions worth of minerals) so blade making was natural to Afghans. No doubt we also imported foreign blades from Europe and Persia too but mainly for the Pulwar.
Also, regarding cavalry, the Afghans in history were mainly cavalry and use spears and bows while the sword was a backup weapon when dismounted from their horse and i think we introduced cavalry warfare into India. Even the word "Afghan" means "horsemen" in Persian. So the Pulwar no doubt was mainly used by Afghan horsemen. I know this is an old video but i thought i would clear this up.
You have a photo in your possession....mhhhhh, if only you could somehow share it with us the viewers ^^"
Matt "Quick video" Easton
Tulwar creationists: "but if we were descended from pulwars, then why are there still pulwars!?"
"The only people who benefit from politics usually are politicians"'
-Matt Easton 2017
loving all of your vids, this is the best thing you ever said on your channel!
The small hilt was literally the first thing I noticed, I'm glad you talked about it.
very nicely presented and explained
I thought the disc shape was to make them more aerodynamic for throwing.
Tulwararang
to end him rightly
Interesting info on the relationship between India and Britain. I didn't realize it had a complex dynamic before now.
India consisted of a number of large princely states before Europeans (first Portugese, then French and British) turned up. The relationship between those states and surrounding kingdoms like Afghanistan was very complex. The Europe colonial powers essentially played political and economic chess with the various states and of course if the Napoleonic Wars had gone differently then India may well have ended up French rather than British.
scholagladiatoria Will you ever write a book about the the subject of India during the 19th century?
The Mogul Empire. Did it fall or was it pushed?
It makes a lot of sense when you explain it that way. Any chance you can recommend a book or an article regarding the political climate of the colonial powers and India/Afghanistan?
John Tse
Afghanistan was not a colony nor it had anything to do with india apart from that many Afghan dynasties ruled india until mughal showed up even then an Afghan sher shah suri defeated the mughals and took over whole of india but then he died in an accident i think a cannon blow up and so his sons were fighting each other and mughals showed up and took the throne back
*H* istorical
*E* aston
*M* att
*A* rt
my next dnd character is going to be matt easton duel wielding a tulwar and pulwar, and he's going to run into battle screaming "CONTEXT! BUTTS!"
There is a point in the video around the 21:00 minute mark, that some one watching this with no sound will assume that you are doing a puppetry show with sword hilts lololol, and its hilarious.
Someone should green-screen out everything but the sword hilts. Replace with a suitable dramatic backdrop.
"Once upon a time there was two hilts..."
Lots of very interesting information here
I like to think that you are actually Elon Musk and that you watch my videos. That would basically let me die happy.
scholagladiatoria hahaha
What a lovely piece of history. I hope its new owner takes care of it
great exposition on politics at the beginning. it was interesting and had just about the right length.
My comment is a bit unrelated to this video in particular, however does anyone else think it's about time for Matt, Lindy, Shad, Metatron, etc. to start having some discussions on live-stream? The recent uptake in response/reply videos that Matt and other martial arts/military history enthusiasts have been doing on one another tells me there are some great discussions to be had Not saying they have too obviously and it's a fair guess they tend to be quite busy which makes scarcity of time to do such a thing. Just a nagging thought of mine lately, but my hunch is that there are more than a few of you out there who've wanted something akin to the same.
my new favorite youtuber
another 20+ minute Matt Easton video about swords
this is the second best birthday present possible
right after a British Sabre
The North West part of Pakistan was part of Afghanistan under Ahmad Shah Durrani
IA King half of Pakistan belongs to Afghanistan they are out tribes and language! but they were divided and have now fully accepted Pakistan as their homeland! some pashtuns in Pakistan still feel connected to the father land Afghanistan, but not enough to reunite! non the less the real pashtuns are loyal to Afghanistan home of the Afghan kings and powerhouse of the pashtuns! united alongside with our noble tajiks Uzbeks and Azara tribes also Baluch!
A couple of notes I thought might be of interest:
- I'm under the impression that a great variety of bronze age swords had disk hilts (and in some areas/periods these seem to have been among the most common). This might be of interest for further research.
- The advice I received from extant Sikh martial artists (Nidar Singh) was that the Tulwar style hilt should be held in an open grip (with the top and bottom of the hand being engaged the most) and the parts of the hand engaged changes during the motion. So, the complex hand fitting shape isn't meant to weld the hand in place so much as to make it easy to engage different parts of the hand's anatomy for different motions.
- The advice also agreed perfectly with Matt Easton's observations about avoiding wrist movement, keeping the ideal cutting angle, and delivering long slicing draw cuts (sometimes starting with a percussive blow at the forte/base of the blade and then moving outward).
nicely presented !
I think you've got a very valid point about the pulwar being an earlier point in the evolution of the tulwar on its way from Persia- some of the examples I've seen on the web have extremely curved blades that actually look much more like the shamshir than the Tulwars we're used to seeing, including a very sharply tapering blade quite unlike Indian swords. The upswept quillons are rather unique though, because I don't recall seeing any persian swords with crossguards like that. I've seen the occasional Arab sword that has either one or both quillons droop like that (though in very modern, 'tourist bait' swords rather than museum pieces), so could it have been an influence from there? I've read about Arab mercenaries being quite common in the Northwestern parts of the subcontinent, especially in the 18th and 19th centuries.
As of this week I got my very own pulwar/tulwar pair! My tulwar is quite a bit heavier than the pulwar. Both have kind of kilij-like blades, though the tulwar is slightly longer and thicker. The pulwar is maybe a little more fancy, and has slightly more blocky quillon "flowers" from the one you're showing here. They're not especially light swords, I was kind of surprised. Very cool though. And they kind of feel like they want to make that slashing cutting motion.
Thank you, sir, for yet another highly educational video! You briefly mentioned the relationship between Russia and Afghanistan, and it made me wonder if you might give your thoughts on the Cossack shashka sword. I have a bit of a fascination with them and would enjoy hearing your analysis.
Shaskas had a practically nonexistent hilt and would be substantially more top heavy because of it.
They also lacked hand protection of any kind, which suggests they were primarily cavalry sabers.
The talwar/pulwar at least seemed to have an itsy bitsy crossguard to theoretically protect your fingers maybe 10% of the time.
Afghanistan is colder than India/Pakistan, so it very well could be size related. In biology/anthropology there is something called "bergmanns rule" which states that inland/coldweather populations are often larger than coastal/warmweather populations. On a more practical level, thicker layers of clothing in cold areas could tip the scales in favor of a hacking cut over a slashing cut.
Plus, gloves.
I can't help but feel that the pulwar looks like a candle holder.
Matt, regarding your comment about height and nutrition - it's absolutely plausible. I lived in Japan in the early 1990s, and it was easy to see the difference in height from one generation to the next. In fact, the average height in Japan has increased about 14cm since the end of WWII.
MrVvulf I lived in HK in the late 80s and it was the same. I've seen Australian immigration records that suggest that between 1900 and 1950 the average height of Chinese people increased by several inches.
Matt, I would love to hear your take on the Takouba, the traditional sword of the Berber or Touareg people.
One European sword that comes immediately to mind when you talk about swords hilts forcing someone to use it in a particular way are the last (circa 1914-1940) Cavalry swords with the pistol type grip. Because of the hilt and such, it was definitely meant to be used in one particular way, and in no other.
Matt, if you wrote a book I know I would buy it. I know there's a lot of people who would.
Is it possible the Afghan's favoured the less restrictive hilt style because their style of fighting, the conditions they fought in, and/or the kind of opponents they fought meant that relying on draw-cuts alone was not as effective as it might have been in India?
"I thought i would make a quick video about it" and that quick video ended up being 24 min :)
I love these swords. I just purchased a tulwar the other day, not too hopeful on it's authenticity or condition but it was described as reasonably nice condition and it was only £69 so worth it if it turns out nice and well built, even if it is fake.
Wow, great deal at that price!
I was in India last year and, in several of the places I went, the people scrubbing the floor and doing other menial work were significantly darker and *smaller* than the other Indians. Not just short, but distinctly tiny. I suspect that these are people from more rural areas of India, since they seemed to be notably different from most that I encountered. So while many modern Indians are of similar height to Europeans, I don't think that's a universal truth. It probably depends on whether they came from the city or the countryside.
littleratblue those are low caste ppl. Untouchables.
littleratblue again, as Matt stated, size and social status usually are corelated
Prepare yourselves men! The afghans are coming and when they fight ...they FIGHT!
Perhaps the Pulwar hilt was an economic, and production consideration, in that they could be produced in a generic size and shape, and be sold to anyone, and then be passed down. The hemi spherical shape would allow much larger hands to use the weapon effectively, albeit not as comfortably. The Tulwar, however, would have something of a hard maximum hand size, and so would be more specifically tailored to a single person. Just a thought!
Early Indian straight swords, that's something I'd like to see.
3:15 Wise words, Matt, wise words.
It would have been cool to show the picture you were alluding to.
Matt Easton your comment section is pure gold xD
Did you ever exray the pommel? I wonder if there is any talisman in the cup?
The actual word is PHUL WAR from native Hindko language of Peshawar which was the winter capitol of Sultanate of Kabul(Afghanistan) until 1815. The word phulwar means blow(war) or attack light as a flower(phul). The hilt end was semi circular and hollow to make the sword lighter and lead or lac balls were put into the hollow part when the sword was balanced(dum brabri) also the semi circle was used during the fight to move the hand down the handle to make the blow harder just like the hands are moved down in using an axe and then pulling back the sword in a drawing and pressing motion in this way all the pressure goes to the front of the sword and usually the front quarter of the phulwar is usually heavy than the lower body of the blade. And to balance this heavy front pieces of lead were put into the hollow hilt. In the older design of the phulwar the hilt is full round like a ball and blades are very heavy (upto 5-6)kg. Some of those swords still survive today but they are very rare now. In 1360s Emir Tymur writes that he has a 7 kg sword(1 mun kadimi) In later times swords were made lighter and more manoverable for faster action and less heavy armour espacially after 17th century due to more use of fire arms.
I think much of the use of cavalry in india is an afghan /persian influence. One can easily forget that many of the rulers of northern indian for a very long time had been non indian originally and they imparted many of their traditions to the subcontinent like the afore mentioned shamshir shaped blades.
So it would make perfect sense that the pulwar improved the design for there use. Also the quillions on yours is a very typical and old style that can from the middle east proper.
I am a big fan of the Flashman series of books and always consult your channel to familiarize myself with weapons that are mentioned. In the first Flashman book, the narrator mentions that British officers serving in Afghanistan were advised to use native swords as they were of higher quality than the standard issue cavalry sabers provided by the East India Company. Are you aware of any primary sources indicating that certain British officers preferred pulwars to sabers? Would soldiers in Company service provided with different weapons or equipment than those in the British army proper?
Even in India today, I found myself much taller than I am in South Africa. I'm tall, but in India it was very noticeable that I was looking down on crowds much more. I'm sure that will change in the next 30 years, but at the moment North Indians at least are generally shorter on average in my estimation.
surley its Polwar? or Puhlwah?
Heh.
poolwha?
Pullwaaaa
try harder!
Pull-wang, innit.
One day I looked up sabre drills and decided to try them out on my dads "Sabre". After five minutes my arm was incredibly sore and I had such a difficult time doing the drills. It turns out that I was swinging a Tulwar... not a sabre.
very nice
i find all swords beautifull but i the pulwar and the indian swords are the ugliest for me, mostly for the guard and handle shape. Never the less i loved you talked about them.
Great channel.
A question for your next 5-Questions-Video: Do you think Donald Trump's hands could use a Tulwar comfortably?
I think they might be too soft. He looks uncomfortable operating a pen.
Mentioning a politician on the internet always invites such wonderful discussion.
Modern, out-of-shape billionaires generally make pretty crap fighters.
Derailing into politics
Mat brain in 3:22 XD
I think it's a good possibility that because Afghanistan was such a melting pot of martial traditions, from Persia, India, Russia, etc., that the hilt was changed from the traditional Indian Tulwar type to help facilitate the use of a variety of martial styles. An Afghan warrior who was familiar with Persian and Indian styles of swordsmanship for example might have wanted a more versatile hilt to use both effectively, for example.
most Indians I have met were pretty short except, as you said, Sikhs (punjabi) who tend to be pretty tall.
Afghans are of Indo Aryan stock! This classification tenses them as Caucasians. The called their homeland Ariana, land of Aryans . The name Aryan is used extensively in Afghanistan to both refer to their people and the land. These Aryans spread into Europe and mingled with local people's bringing their language and culture , hence why most of the languages are related to 1 single tongue. Indo European languages. Farsi pashto Hindi Greek.
South asian arms and armor are very underrated
Hey Matt, great video. Was wondering if you watch of follow black sails and fancied looking at some of the sword+pistol/sword and smallsword combat featured in that show. Recently they've introduced a semi-historical character, Israel Hands, that uses a beaks crow warhammer alongside a cutlass to great effect. Would love to get your take on that!
I have filmed a review of one of the famous fights from Black Sails, but the video is stuck in a copyright dispute. Apparently Starz don't check their emails.
Hey Matt Easton, folks here!
Relevant to the point about how few hilts force you to hold them in certain ways - if you look at bronze age European leaf bladed swords, something I noticed that I haven't seen pointed out by anyone else is that swords from around the area of Hungary have similar looking disc pommels to the tulwar. (example: s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/89/e0/55/89e055ba61239539f6205013001824c2.jpg ) I have never had the opportunity to actually hold one so I can't say for certain it has the same effect - the discs look smaller, but I don't know what the hand sizes at the time were (I *think* smaller, but I'm not sure).
But yeah, after watching your original video on the tulwar's disc pommel I thought of this and my pet theory is the same thing might have been happening. These cast discs seem to be specific to that general area (at least every example I've seen is from there). Other areas sometimes have metal bits to the pommels, and are sometimes quite wide, but they're much flatter instead of disc shaped. I've seen some reconstructions that give wooden discs, but I'm not sure on the evidence for them.
Yes I have noticed that various types of Bronze Age and even some Iron Age swords seem to have pommels which dictate specific gripping methods.
Curses, thought I was being original! :P
If you are interested in Afghan weapons of the 20th and early 21st centuries, the word is "COMBLOC"
The problem is: Afghanistan was all the time poor country of the wild but proud tribes. So, they had no money for horses. So, I do not really believe in the "large number of cavalry in the army of the Afghan Emirs". As I heard, even sabre was not very popular in this army, because it was the "exclusive" weapon of wealthy people. The common Afghan warrior usually used long knife called "the Khyber knife".
Afghans were always fighting on horseback since the times of the ancient Bactrians. Up until the 19th century the Afghans were known for their cavalry forces. Afghans only stopped using cavalry when it became useless against the muskets and cannons.
Wtf? Afghans are not poor, granted it was more "richer" in ancient times as it is know and the word Afghan littearly means "horse rider" because we had the best horses in all of Asia. Our Aryan ancestors were the first people to domesticate the the horse and introduced it into Europe.
Lets hear it for the common soldier! Woooooooooo!!
I love your videos, but you know too much for your own good :D Sometimes it seems that every time you try to make a point, you remember another detail about this or that and the video becomes another 30 seconds longer. Although, now that I think about it, I guess that's part of the charm. Keep it up. ;)
+scholagladiatoria on the cavalry issue, might it be that despite Afghanistan having less cavalry overall, the greater wealth an Afghan required to possess a pulwar rather than a chora, meant a pulwar-owner was proportionately more likely to be a cavalryman? In comparison to the tulwar being more available to a wider segment of the population in India?
Yes, I considered this and it is a possible reason.
New conspiracy theory: Matt Easton invented the Pulwar.
"The only people who benefit from politics usually are politicians" - here, please have an upvote. Too few people understand this.
Hey Matt,
I remember the last time the pulwar crossguard flowers came up, there was a discussion in the comments about them possibly being poppies, given the importance of opium growing to Afghanistan. An image for reference: www.google.com/search?q=opium+poppy&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjdxLLG3cTSAhUmr1QKHcmUDwwQ_AUICCgB&biw=1600&bih=791#imgrc=U-FE58eLfoSvCM
Any thoughts on this?
Also, a random thought re: Afghans being bigger -- might there be a dietary reason for this being the case, that being the importance of dairy (and goat products in general) to Afghanistan as sources of protein, whereas India was dominated by rice and lentils, with vegetarianism being a more common practice?
Those guys were missing the damascene opportunity.
I would suggest that there may be a cultural reason behind the proliferation of the disc-hilt pommel in Indian swords.
I don't know specifics, but there have been other times in history where specific styles of hilt or sword have had cultural or sociological reasoning behind their origin; examples range from the cinquedea daggers in Italy which proliferated not because of useful combat characteristics but for fashion and the broadness of the blade providing a good surface for metalwork and etching instead, to messers which are near-identical to falchions blade-wise yet have slimmer knife-constructed hilts for circumventing German ownership laws concerning swords as defined by hilt.
So having given examples, my hypothesis would be that the disc-hilt proliferated because of tradition and fashion in lieu of a need to evolve due to combat-related purposes. To understand specifics would require a deeper look at the place of the sword in Indian culture at the time, the availability of swords to the common man with regard to the caste system, and a study of whom swords were made by and for whom and for what purposes in India over the years. Context is key, but I think the main focus should be less on why the Tulwar proliferated, but rather on why it was never supplanted by another evolution of the sword.
Looking at Europe the sword kind of comes full circle due to the development of technology driven by constant warfare. We start with ancient short swords, move on to slightly longer viking swords, arrive at single-bladed choppers for carving up unarmored serfs, move on to commonly available armor and an evolution of increasingly pointy can-openers and then after a dabble in civilian dueling swords we arrive back at single-edged unarmored-choppers because of the disappearance of armor from European battlefields due largely to the invention and distribution of cheap firearms.
Perhaps if India had a few fewer wars and a bit less commonly available armor time-relative to Europe, their sword design did not have time to evolve to can-openers by the time guns arrived and so sword evolution remained in the slicer-chopper stage rather than moving on to different forms which were unsuited for gun-saturated armorless warfare?
were the pulwars and the tulwars adapted from the mongolian sabers? It feels like the majority of the middle eastern civilizations didn't start using what we consider sabers today until after the mongol invasions.
I havent held a tulwar/pulwar before but im curious about the hilt. Was its really heavy?
Is there a chance they were trying to pull back the fulcrum of a saber so it could be whipped around tighter angles to make it function more like a razor than an axe?
could you please do a video on, or recommend some reading on tulwar hilt construction. I really don't understand how glue cand hold a blade in the hilt
Are there any consistent reasons you can see why different people chose straight, lightly curved, or heavily curved blades?
One thing Matt has noted in the past is that pretty much all sword using cultures have utilized both straight and curved swords. However, it does often appear that certain regions were more inclined to one style or another at a given point in history. Piecing together what I've learned from Matt and other sources, there's likely a range of reasons to justify a given sword style in various areas.
The first thing to look at would be a swords intended use. Curved swords are inclined towards slashing, while straight swords have a superior thrust. Straight swords, as a result, are better against heavily armored opponents. It seems to me that curved swords were most prevalent in areas that generally avoided heavy armor, either due to a hot/humid climate, and/or a lack of good iron/ advanced steel manufacturing. Against a lightly armored opponent, a curved sword would make for deadlier slashes, while its inferior thrusting capacity would still get the job done.
Another factor Matt has touched upon is actually fashion. the popularization of sabers in 19th century Western Europe is believed to have its origins in Eastern European hussars, whom Western Europeans sought to emulate in style. This theory is reinforced by the fact that the slightly curved blades on most sabers doesn't really improve their cutting capacity, and can therefore only really be there for looks.
Just to reiterate: most cultures used both straight and curved blades throughout their sword using histories. Polish Hussars, for example, would commonly carry both a straight and a curved blade into combat, in addition to a lance and possibly other weapons. The straight sword served as a backup lance, while the curved sword worked well in a melee.
the second upturned hilt looks like a pond lily to me. a continuation of the flower theme? or am i seeing things?
maybe the afghan sword pommel is shaped that way for the same reason that the quillons are shaped like they are. because they have a similar shape.
Surely with the variation of talwar disc hilts wealth would be a factor? For example a high ranking soldier from a wealthy family would be more likely to be able to afford to have a talwar made with a bespoke hilt customised to their hand size and personal preference as to how restricted their wrists are whereas a lower ranking individual from a poorer background would be more likely to use an inherited sword or recycle old hilts/swords salvaged from battlefields e.t.c and therefore would have to make do with the best they can get, even if they might prefer a different variation. Is there any evidence for this?
off topic... why is there a finished 2x4 running between the corner of your walls?
It's there to hang people asking off topic questions.
acehnese pedang looks like that too. from sumatra, indonesia
How do you even tell the difference at this point, or, why even have a differentiation
Please help me out where can I buy this sword? Can I buy one from you I'm from London.
my uncle farnsworth had one of these...he called it his "eh, whaa?"
get it?
Matt is there any progression from north to south in the flat pommels, ie, Afghanistan to Punjab to Central India to South India? What I mean could the Pulwar type pommel shade into the non flat disk type Tulwar hilt in the Punjab and north India? You are entirely correct that Cavalry was much more important in India than Afghanistan. The Sikh State and Central India had large cavalry forces.
I have not observed a regional tendency in Indian pommels, but honestly there has been so little research done on them that it's possible we're just lacking the data to see it at the moment.
Have u got any more for sale
Hey Matt , have you done a video on the extent to which Subcontinental Tulwars influenced the manufacture of Western European Sabres and vice versa?
I have only mentioned this topic in passing, because there seems to be almost no relationship. Both types of sword share a common origin in medieval Eastern European and Central Asian sabres. But they evolved mostly separately.
Okay, cool. Would you attribute the spread of the blade design due to the influence of Central Eurasian powers such as the trade of the expanding Gunpowder Empires or more simply the prevalence of a successful blade design of weapons such as the Arab Scimitar, the Persian shamshir and Turkish kilij?
salamut2202 The rise of the sabre in Europe seems to be linked to the adoption of Austro-hungarian cavalry tactics in the late 18th century. The Hungarian sabres were older than Turkish, Persian or Indian curved blades. However curved infantry swords were common in Europe from at least 1600 and are well evidenced in use from 1560.
Is there anyone out there making decent copies? (Also, due to the curved blade, would a modern one fall foul of British laws, that an antique would not?)
"Hey folks, Matt Easton here, Scholagladiatoria"
"Hi, Bob Vance, Vance Refrigeration"
:)
Did these Afghan/Indian weapons change in the years after armour was redundant? Were they always sabre-like or were they previously perhaps heavier or more capable of thrusting?
There were specialised anti-armour weapons such as war-picks and maces which became less common in the 19th century. Though in the 18th century armour was still quite prevalent - even at the beginning of the 19th century actually.
So were those used in preference of the Talwar in earlier centuries? Also what armour, exactly, did the Afghans wear and how common was it?
The average Afghan, herding goats in the mountains, who appear to make up much of the forces in the 19th century, would not have been able to afford what, say, the Sultan's full time troops or the lords could. This was the same earlier in Europe but eventually even the poorest soldier could afford mail, was this the case in Afghanistan or did many go unarmoured but for some sort of psedo-armour such as quilted jackets,leather jerkins and metal discs?
Ever considered making a little paper face on a popsicle stick?
Might be good for tricking your autofocus, getting it to lock in on stuff like...hilts, say.
About the pommel, can you unscrew it?
hey matt, love the video. :)
you seem to avoid using the word Pakistan. Is it mainly not to start an argument between Pakistani and Indians?
I didn't avoid Pakistan - I mentioned it. But of course it didn't exist in the period being discussed.
Lotus needs alot of water and was prevalent in south & east asia (Jammu Kashmir, Bangladesh, Shri Lanka etc) Afghanistan was mostly desert. so any idea why lotus was used for afgani pulwar?
It was copied from Persian weapons. I should have stated this clearly in the video, but forget to mention it.
Afghanistan is not a desert it’s mainly mountainous
So, despite how things would appear from "The Man Who Would Be King", Afghanis didn't all go around on horse, flailing about over their heads with pulwars.
morallyambiguousnet
that movie was full of shit