Indian Sword Hilt Design - Size & Shape
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 7 ก.ค. 2021
- The design of Indian sword hilts, specifically the tulwar/talwar, and how this relates to size, shape and usage.
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I feel like owning more than 100 tulwars should come with some kind of commemorative plaque.
commemorative tulwar
Sometimes it pays off being awake at 4:30 am. Love your stuff Matt, especially Indian content as my Father was born there prior to partition. Coxy
4:30 P.M where I'm at.
@@zethron1173 I'm on the west coast of Australia
@@grantcox4764 Very nice, I'm in Texas!
According to E Jaiwant Paul in 'By my Sword and Shield' (1995), Roli Books, New Delhi, p. 76, many Indian swordsmiths say that a small hilt, which is a tight fit for the hand, gives rise to a sense of 'josh' when gripped. The word 'josh' literally means 'zeal', but in this context implies aggression and fervour. So there my be a psychological dimension to the topic.
Thanks for the historical source!
This is fascinating! I don't think Indian swords get enough coverage. They look like they have a very different history and style of use. I'd love to see more videos on them!
+scholagladiatoria *The Hindu sword hilts are designed to fit specific hand dimensions with little provision for wrist techniques.* The Khanda, a straight-bladed back- or broadsword, and the Talwar, a Mughal derivative of the strong-curved Shamshir from Shi'a Iran, share a hilt design, which on the Talwar offers protection to the sword hand when executing the drawcut.
The Indian Tulwar with knucklebow is one of my favorite hilts, with a slightly curved blade with fuller's. Thanks, Matt!!!
Sword hilts are a wonderful topic, I appreciate your hard work. I prefer basket hilts, or at least a cross hilt of sorts...I like my fingers.
To correct you it’s not german or Italian it’s sapnish blade ordered by Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj a great Indian king,the sword is called firangi or dhop meaning blade with foregin blade.
So, are there any period observations about how snugly the hilts of Indian swords fit into the hands of the people they were actually made for?
For them it would have been normal so there's less of a chance it would appear in written sources. But my girlfriend has Small hands and some of the tulwars I've seen matt handle would be snug for her little hands as well (at least judging by the dimensions he gives)
It's a fairly common design choice among swords to make the hilt a tight fit (viking era swords, Scottish basket hilts, etc)
As an Indian, it's really personal. Some swords can fit my hands, some can't. Not that I've handled much, but still. Nepali and east Asian swords are not that bad in the hilt tho, but again, only tried a couple of them
Very, very interesting ... as always, Matt!!
Great video! One question I often get asked, is about the shape of hilt itself and why it’s swollen in the middle. If you look at the profile of the hilt, it follows the height of interphalangeal joints on the fingers. Also you probably can’t see from this vid but the bottom part of the hilt is much more narrow than the middle and upper hilt. It’s shaped this way soo that when you wrap your fingers around the hilt, the interphalangeal joints are brought into vertical alignment and thus aligned with the edge of the sword. This helps to make edge alignment more intuitive and ergonomic.
Thank you for another wonderfully instructive video, sir. I have a 17th century firangi style Talwar in my collection, and it is extremely rewarding to learn all I can about it.
I’ve recently discovered HEMA (well, several years ago) and I’ve found your videos quite instructional. Please keep up the outstanding work!!!!
Slightly OT - Matt, it has come to this: thanks to your excellent videos I'm now automatically checking out if the swords painted in pictures illustrating history articles in the papers are proper to the time those painters were painting. I can't help me self ... it's huge fun though - and all thanks to you, Matt!
:-)
Great video Matt!
I must comment on your ability to act natural in front of the camera. When filming these, I sometimes forget you're alone in your garage and not ACTUALLY speaking to all of us in real time...but watching your videos is like I'm sitting right before you.
Love it, love it, love it!
Reminds me of your "Is your sword too small for you?" video.
Seems to me the takeaway is to choose (or have made fir you) a sword you plan on actually using that's suited to your own body's mechanics rather than go for "pure authenticity".
Very often, it is not possible to get to a swordsmith that can make a sword to your liking or design, especially when you do not have a lot of money to satisfy such kind of swordsmith.
6:02 Matt's got above average hands 😏
I would personally be very interested in a discussion of how Indian style hilts were made and fitted. Their preference for steel hilts and grips is unusual and the forms of things like so-called "khanda-style" basket hilts are quite distinctive. Which elements are solid and which ones are hollow?
I think the reason for getting a steel hilt was with the assumption that the blade could be replaced later on in the future if it ever broke.
The handle itself is not solid I think, not entirely sure.
So you can have a fancy expensive hilt but the damage taking part is replaceable
a lot of antique swords u see are not meant for fighting , they were ceremonial and were a symbol of transfer of power , so these are antiques and not for fighting , the fighting ones were adjusted according to the warrior
that could be the reason of not fitting properly
@@na2co312 While some swords were ceremonial, most Indian swords use these styles of hilts, including ones that were clearly made and used as fighting swords.
@@FortyTwoBlades its not about whether having hilt or not , hilt served as a guard in most weapons
here he was having trouble putting his wrist/hand/fingers ,
so it could be it was a ceremonial sword not made according to measure or was a sword personalized for someone of average stature so his hand could fit , but i doubt it because height doesnt create much difference in wrist and fingers
@@na2co312 I do not think you have any information to present to me that I do not already have a rich understanding of, but thanks for taking the time to comment, regardless.
Speaking of sabres, have you seen the video about the adoption of European sabres during the Qing dynasty by Scott Rodel? The content is fascinating.
I think to some extent we're seeing results of the fact that there were many different styles of fighting and no one of them was demonstrably superior to all the others. If one system was clearly "best" everyone in the world would have used it before too long. Over time, a given culture would have settled upon a style that worked and developed a weapon system that emphasized its strengths and minimized its weaknesses. Is it better to cut from the wrist or from the elbow/shoulder? It's a bit like the AR vs AK debate -- it will never be settled because each system has strengths and weaknesses and which is "best" depends upon which factors the user considers most important and how well they exploit the system. When soldiers face off on the battlefield, the issue is almost never decided by the two sides' respective choice of rifle. Likely the Indians developed a style of fighting that worked and gradually developed weapons which made that style more effective. If your style emphasizes big, sweeping cuts from the elbow and shoulder, it only makes sense to use weapons which encourage you to do them. Using a very different weapon would require learning a very different style of fighting. Certainly some people did, but in general once you have developed the system (style of fighting and weapons for it) you're kind of locked into continuing it unless some other factor intervenes.
I totally agree on the AR vs. AK argument and most of your post in general, but I don't think the argument of "If one system was clearly "best" everyone in the world would have used it" is a valid one when looking at swords and their swinging styles.
Swords were sidearms, and are not playing that much of a role in skirmishes, as the outcome of a battle would more depend on missile weapon use and rate of fire, as well as spears and polearms, number of soldiers on a given side and only in a few rarely decicive moments "sword against sword" would have played a role.
Duelling systems and etiquette were also very different in most countries, and would play into existing styles anyways. And then there is the usual tribe mentality, that using a foreign/enemy style of fencing when duelling for example, would alert people or enrage even, and those people would shut you up. Of corse not always, as nothing is absolute, but given the fact that trade was established very much from China and India over Iran/Irak to Spain, but rarely anyone fought with anything else than what the direct neighbor wears, shows more about conformism than (battlefield-)effectiveness. Of corse if something was a major breakthrough it would show up in other places, but if a system is different by culture, aesthetic and "only" lets say 12% more effective in a niche that does not play a major role on the battlefield, it will not take on i guess, even if superior. (pulled the 12% out of my bottom of corse).
And we see that fashion plays a huge role in sword evolution with the rapier to smallsword, for example. It can evolve, since it gets more and more irrelevant on the battlefield, and evolution is driven by fashion, not superiority over existing weapons in deadliness or power or so. People still needed close combat weapons in war, even in "modern" times (trench-knives for example), but they were not a driving factor in winning, so it got more irrelevant how deadly a weapon needs to be.
So in general i would argue, that if swordstyles evolved in cultures far away from each other, those styles would prevail even if one is better than the other when directly compared on the battlefiled or duel effectiveness. If cultures are close to each other and influence each other more heavily, because the base of those cultures is compareable (for example they both have the same religion and are neighboring countries), then i guess "the better" style can replace the other. But when the cultural background is not compatible, the cultural factors play to much of a role and other factors are highly more likely to ensure survival of a given swinging style.
You touch upon a similar thing in your last senteces around the topic "you're kind of locked into continuing it unless some other factor intervenes", which applies to the whole tradition on how to swordfight in general, which should not be overlooked. Changes are hard to do in old ways of learning, especially if tradition, religion and other factors play into that.
To sum it up, context (we are on a Matt Easton video, so here it is :) ) is not only what is most efficient in direct comparison of deadlyness or whatever benchmark you are measuring effectivness in. Culture, tradition, battlefiled relevance, civilian fashion, status-symbol, bulkiness in everyday carry, tribe-affiliation, use in one-on-one duels, association to crime etc.pp all play a role that should not be overlooked. All this can lead to an "inferior" style of sword(smanship) to survive over a long time, if the other indicators still check out the needs of the given tribe/country/settlement.
And just to be clear, i don't want to say one style is better than the other, just wanted to highlight that fighting styles can prevail even if inferior to others in the same time, but in a totally different culture. And i mostly agree on your post, but wanted to give my 2cents to it, cheers :)
Perhaps certain genetic groups like certain kinds of movement and weapon. And perhaps certain kind of genetic groups have certain kind of mentality that prefer certain way of attack, cut, and killing.
@@MtRevDr I think that is going a step to far. Even if there are certain differences in for example caucasian and asian bodytypes/genetics, the overall functions and muscle groups are the same. Going for the connection of behaviour and genetics of a tribe is dangerous, as there is much pseudo science around that topic. I would draw the line at the society or environmental level.
@@MtRevDr Possible, but I think it's more likely to be cultural than genetic.
@@Daniels_unique_TH-cam_alias All those things are factors, of course, and I'm sure you're right that a system would have to be better by an appreciable margin before it spread very far. It would probably be more accurate had I said that if a system were *dramatically* better than the others, everyone would be using it before long. After all, as you correctly point out, the sword was a minor factor in most battles so a relatively small increase in effectiveness wouldn't lead a culture to change their style.
I wonder if there's a paper in comparing grave finds to skeletal measurements of the occupants. Probably not, that sort of thing is fairly imprecise afaik.
Very interesting. It's not the first time you mention older styles of indian swords, any hope for a future video(s)?
The shaping of a grip to lock the user into certain positions is also used in target shooting - if you look at the oddly shaped furniture on Olympic target pistols and rifles (and the suits the competitors wear). The wrap-around style pistol grips in particular are meant to force the shooter to lock their wrist and arm into a stable position
Some sources (might be Shastar Vidya videos, it's been a while since I've seen them) have the index finger over the quillions. I've tried it and it's very comfortable. It's less risky than it seems, since full body cutting motions keep the hand moving, so the finger isn't as vulnerable as you'd think.
Overall, I think its less that the hilt reinforces that particular style of cutting than that it maximizes the efficiency of that particular style.
Finally, don't worry about being PC! There's scientific data that shows humans from colder climates tend to be bigger and denser than the ones from hotter climates, regardless of race.
Well not really, Samoans and Tongans are pretty big people despite coming from hotter tropical climates. Seems more to be a case of diet then climate.
Fingers over quillion is wrong, one wrong move and u lose a finger 😅
@@unhingedninja8565Not necessarity. It really depends on the style of motion. If you're doing a rapier style, the hand is usually in front, so the fingers,and hand are vulnerable. Hence the increasingly elaborate guards as the emphasis shifted to the point over the cut.
But if the sword arm is cutting widely and moving continuously, the hand is far less vulnerable, so a finger over the guard is not out of line. You can find it depicted on some early medieval illustrations too, when the swords were still those viking style designs.
And on a tulwar, the quillions are often almost too small to protect the hand, but really comfortable to hook your finger over.
@@GreaterAfghanistanMovement thats true about Polynesians. I've been to Fiji, where the natives are very big (and very strong). But overall, there's a sort of rule of thumb that cold weather people tend to be bigger, ie: Northern Europeans vs. Mediterraneans, Northern Chinese vs. Southern Chinese, etc.
In any case, my point was just that its not inherently politically incorrect to make the observation.
Great video Matt thank you!
Wylde theory: cricket batting uses mostly movements aligned with the elbow, as people form the Indian subcontinent were used to the motions it stands to reason why India is one of the Big 3 Cricket nations in the world.
Tulwars are cool. With large to extra large hands I have always wanted to try one. Never hedl one ButI really like the swept blade. In Tulare the curvature just fits so well. Thanks for the info. If I ever get one it is nice to know what to look for to pick the right one to have a comfortable grip.
The sword which you called European blade and Indian hilt is known as 'Dhop' used by Maratha army from the time of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj!
Let's not discuss the size and shape of our swords, it's all about technique.
Let's not make the same joke for the 100 billionth time
th-cam.com/video/22JKOhRSzkc/w-d-xo.html
Great video!!!!! Cheers!!!!!
Those things are very extremely pretty. I love the second one. The one without the knuckle guard.
I would theorize that viking age/migration era swords might have been used to cut in a similar way to Indian swords (more from the arm than the wrist) based on the way their hilts are similarly constrictive. Also based on Saxo Grammaticus saying 'honour was paid more to the mightiness than to the number of the blows,' which suggests that they were focused more on power than on nimble, quick, guarded cutting. Which makes sense when you consider that they also generally had shields.
Did Vikings also have small hands?
@@aniketghosh6993 Their grip lengths were usually from 8 to 10 cm. 8.5 works well for me so presumably their hands, like ours, varied between 8 and 10 cm in width.
I for one would love to hear much more about South Asian sword techniques - historical and modern. Is there a HEMA equivalent in South Asian countries - reconstructed techniques vs. the traditional styles that have survived into the present (like the difference between HEMA and Olympic fencing for example)? As far as I know, the last large-scale use of swords in the region was during the horror of partition.
Also, how did the massive presence of European colonists and invaders affect preferences for swords and techniques over time - besides obviously making use of mass-produced European blades?
The introduction about size difference reminds me about the instruction given to Japanese soldiers fighting in Burma or similar places to look for the tallest man among the opposing party in order to shoot him… so as to deprive the enemy unit from his officer.
Great video.
Great video
I have 9.5 inch hands, which is a limiting factor with gloves and gun grips.
I cannot imagine ever enjoying that horizontal disc pommel being comfortable. My hand would be spilling and wrapping over that disc just sitting still. Never mind when articulating the wrist at all.
Love those blades though.
I would love to see an Indian swordsman's perspective on this. How well can their technique be used with an European sword etc.
@RYKKKKKK Boiling in plate armor riding for days in a hot climate would be horrendous I imagine. Totally see the point of optimizing for mobility and comfort.
It would be interesting if you could find a Gatka (or similar) instructor and compare weapons and styles and discuss historical sources and anecdotes from where they met.
The disk pommel has a basic protective element. when you cut from the elbow you lead your cut with the base of your hand. the base of the hand is now extremely vulnerable to being hit
I dont know if this is the place to post questions to Matt but: In single combat you have the options of going weapon less but in a full set of 15th century plate or no armour but the melee weapon of your choice. Your opponent will be equipped opposite. Do you trust the plate to let you get into grappling or your skill at arms to land a disabling blow before you get pulverized?
Nice information love form India
It seems to me that the difference in cutting styles being described here is similar to the distinction between escrima and the use of the Vietnamese tambo in stick fighting.
Form, function & style shaped a lot of weapons
just a thought to add to your theory about this style of sword hilt being fitted to the user.
weren't most talwar hilts attached to the blades with pitch? that would make swapping out hilts and blades to fit the end user a fairly simple prospect.
I can understand a restricted wrist motion, and going for a more sweeping motion because of a weakened wrist due to injuries earlier in life. Maybe one of the reasons for the tulwar to restrict wrist motion was to preserve the wrist.
The shape of that small knuckle bow doesn't seem to serve any purpose. It would have been difficult to sell awkward swords though, so there must be some reason to it.
The bow swells to encourage blows glancing away as the base is presented more than the crossguard in stances , more like medieval styles.
It's ritual, duh :-)))
@@alexmashkin863 It's hard to figure out what justifies that little room for forefinger and littlefinger, so let's say ritual.
The bow of the knuckle guard could be used as a "brass knuckle" to punch opponents. The compact shape would concentrate force on the target better than a wider bow. I don't know if this is the actual reason though, I'm just speculating.
I wonder if it leaves space for stacking fingers. It seems like a terrible idea but can you put one finger on top of another finger inside that space? Like cross your fingers and then grab the sword. Also, many of those hilts would allow your pointer finger to be above the guard, so there would only be 3 fingers inside.
I have a question about the Indian sword with the large disc pommel. What if you raised the middle finger slightly and tucked in the index and ring finger underneath? The protection covering the knuckles seems bowed so that your grip is formed into that manner. Does that help, and would that mean that formations of the hands are just as important as any other requirements of positioning and movement? Regardless great video, thanks for sharing!
As I read the first line, I thought you were leading into a joke about the tulwar hilt being optimized to give your opponent the middle finger while dueling.
This is how Indians swords were held during world war 1
www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.derbytelegraph.co.uk%2Fnews%2Fnostalgia%2Fgallery%2Ffabulous-photos-show-indian-troops-3174385&psig=AOvVaw1npajNwyr7rVVDgDifUEZ2&ust=1628704085466000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CAsQjRxqGAoTCNjXxNiBp_ICFQAAAAAdAAAAABDwAQ
Those are some nice looking blades
I notice that the pommel on the basket hilt is a bit canted. Would that be from stresses due to use or a design feature to give a bit more reach?
I have noticed that Indian swords generally have no armour piercing capabilities. Their intended targets must be lightly armoured or unarmoured.
That makes me wonder what they used in heavily armoured combat. Any paintings or treatises on this topic?
I found this very interesting.
I swear I remember you owned a tulwar with a black and gold hilt that had a bar pommel. It was pretty unique and I was looking for that one sword example. Matt can you point out where that one is?
Nice!
That was a cool trick! How did you pull that European sword off of your green screen background?
Boss which place is good to buy wootz indian swords in london or online
Very interesting video. I'd like to hear about the sidesword that's hanging on the wall
What's the sword on the wall directly under the black & yellow banner ?
Hi Matt, great video! Do Indian tulwar blades range in thickness for blade stock? How thick and heavy do they usually get?
Yes they vary a lot. I just measured the ones I have close to me, with the thickest being 9.7mm at the base of the blade and the thinnest being 5.1mm at the base of the blade. They all have a lot of distal taper.
Disc pommel also use on 2edges sword in Eastern Zhou Dynasty (東周 b.c. 770~256) to early Han Dynasty (漢朝 b.c. 202) in China.
@scholargladiatoria maybe youre meant to have 1 finger out of the hilt and expand your other fingers inside the hilt for quick changes in direction/dexterity? :)
Were the Indian swords you were showing infantry or cavalry swords ? Also were Indian military formations different to fit their fighting styles?
Howdy? Love content, thank you. What size of glove you wear?
Are the more ornate hilts bigger in general?
Well weren't most swords at these times custom commissions? Or is this when standardization was taking place in military armorment?
Historically, very few swords anywhere are made on commission anywhere in the world .
There's a small army of craftsmen producing everything from the steel, the forging, grinding, polishing... all the way down to the handle and sheath makers producing this stuff en-mass and you just go into a place of purchase, find one you like and pay your money. For the purposes of having actual examples though, a lot of them are the commission pieces simply because of their significance in value, craftsmanship or other interesting features which makes them appear to collectors or were simply valued enough to be maintained over the years so they survived.
The average weapon got used, abused and recycled into something else long before it had any intrinsic value of being historically significant and conserved.
Just as a knife maker when doing a production run there's actually a rule I used in my stock that 95% of the population has a hand size (male and female) that falls somewhere between 95 to 115mm and will fit them comfortably. Smaller blades like a paring and skinning knife I'll usually have a 95-100mm handle, larger knives like a big chef or machete are somewhere in the 100-115mm bracket.
I have seen tulwar and farangi style hilts where the grip wrapped in cloth. Seems like unless the metal was covered the weather would make it either very hot or cold. Afghanistan for example has extreme temperatures both hot and cold. I grew up in the desert and have burned my hands on tools working in the sun.
Very interesting topic. Have you any knowledge about the indian swordsmanship and swords of india in the first millenia AD. Would be very interested to hear about that topic. Are there any surviving remnants of those times?
I know a bit about the swords, but we know almost nothing about how they were used at that time, as far as I know.
@@scholagladiatoria thank you for sharing the information.
I have a gil hiben style hunting knife. And yes the fact that the hilt is a 1/2" too short means it rarely gets used.
Why the bumps in the middle of the handle? Is it uncomfortable?
The curvature of the cross guards on most of those swords, which I like to call ulwars as an umbrella term, makes me believe that the guard could be fingered if the grip was too short.
The ONLY HEMA channel I can take seriously and the only HEMA channel I can stand to watch more than 20 seconds.
Theta disc pommel looks like a littel shield, and I remember another TH-camr - sorry, I can't rmember his name - saying that for sure that was its function. To me, that seems to make sense in a close-in fighting style. What do you think of it?
Is it plausible that the indian pattern to move the whole upper arm using the shoulder as a hing resembles the Cossaks' swhashbuckling style?
This is how Indians swords were held during world war 1
www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.derbytelegraph.co.uk%2Fnews%2Fnostalgia%2Fgallery%2Ffabulous-photos-show-indian-troops-3174385&psig=AOvVaw1npajNwyr7rVVDgDifUEZ2&ust=1628704085466000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CAsQjRxqGAoTCNjXxNiBp_ICFQAAAAAdAAAAABDwAQ
Glad TH-cam got rid of that ad with slurping and burping.
Slightly off topic buuuut... You know I just had a small epiphany, people always seem to struggle on how best to cut with Viking Era swords because of the very small grips, and types of pommels they have. These are essentially the same things we see on tulwars, why not try Indian like styles of cutting with these swords (not necessarily draw cuts but the same system with more of a hack) I just picked up one of my Viking Era reproductions and I have to say throwing cuts from the elbow/shoulder and a stiff wrist seems like it would mate up really well with a shield. Definitely feels just as good if not better than doing the whole extending you arm out/throwing out the sword to hack.
Matt has made this exact point a decent number of times before.
@@nevisysbryd7450 yeah but I don’t think directly compared to the tulwar
Makes me interested in how a tulwar would be used from horseback.
How is the tulwar without the grip??
Cheers.
probably i will say something stupid but the first thing that came to my mind when looking at the sword with the tight knuckle bow is: what if the sword was made for a person with a partially cut middle finger? i mean he could hold the sword with 3 fingers and the cutted middle finger rest on top of the other 3, this would also explain the round hump on the knuckle bow that serves to make room for the cutted finger on top
How easily is it to combine European sabre techniques with the stiff wrist Indian, Middle Eastern, and North African techniques in the same fight? Is it difficult to alternate styles to make use of the strengths of both?
This is how Indians swords were held during world war 1
www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.derbytelegraph.co.uk%2Fnews%2Fnostalgia%2Fgallery%2Ffabulous-photos-show-indian-troops-3174385&psig=AOvVaw1npajNwyr7rVVDgDifUEZ2&ust=1628704085466000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CAsQjRxqGAoTCNjXxNiBp_ICFQAAAAAdAAAAABDwAQ
What about he zaghnal and the chinese schyte spear, the Ji?
Do an episode on how to hold african swords with abstract hilts
The correct method= When you hold a Talwars, index finger and thumb have to keep bit open and rest on cross-guards . It allows you to enough yet tight grip on pommel and most imp. It gives you better control over changing directions of the edge of Tulwars . Basically grip is not a tight feist but thumb and index finger controls the weapon edge by cross-guards. And that was the reason why Tulwars are with smaller grip.
Can your pinky wrap around the knuckle guard? I think about how Roland wraps his palm around the pommel.
This is how Indians swords were held during world war 1
www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.derbytelegraph.co.uk%2Fnews%2Fnostalgia%2Fgallery%2Ffabulous-photos-show-indian-troops-3174385&psig=AOvVaw1npajNwyr7rVVDgDifUEZ2&ust=1628704085466000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CAsQjRxqGAoTCNjXxNiBp_ICFQAAAAAdAAAAABDwAQ
Did Japanese swordsmanship also favour the draw cut? From the antique Katanas I've seen and owned, it seems to me that the thickness of the blades would have been a drawback in percussive cuts, and that a drawing action might have been more effective?
The Japanese do use draw cuts but not quite in the same way as the Indians. From what I have seen, the Japanese do not generally cut with a passing step or lock the wrist in place, but if you watch kenjiutsu practitioners two of there favorite techniques are to first beat the opponent's sword out of the way, step forward, put their blade on the base of opponent's neck, and then draw it down and towards themselves, or beat, step forward, place their blade horizontally across the opponent's stomach, and then draw across to disembowel.
My brothers wedding sword from India has a tiny hilt as well
mhhh...could the stones in the pommel be related to shock obsorbtion? Maybe a bit far fetched.
Tulwar were also used for percussive strikes, not only draw slicing. Unfortunately percussive strikes don't look good in performances so they aren't trained as much in performance arts.
As you hinted upon the more open hilts were used with styles that favoured percussive strikes, draw slices, and of course circular thrusts. And there's a 4th variable you might have overlooked, the role of the fingers 🙂
The Indian hilts are having different types n size as par the hands but some rajputs from Rajasthan use to like using the smaller hilt because they like keeping one first finger (index finger) out on top of the hilt so it's give more movementem to move the sword and swings in all the directions...😊
I would guess that the disc pommel was favored by people who like to use big sweeping strokes because it gives superior weapon retention. It won't slip out of their hand.
You urge to perform a keel test , and theif enters your house
I saw some people put indexfinger in front of cross guard.
Matt u forgot mentioning about all swollen handle of talwars. Why are their handle swollen??
If you look at the profile of the hilt, it follows the height of interphalangeal joints on the fingers. Also you probably can’t see from this vid but the bottom part of the hilt is much more narrow than the middle and upper hilt. It’s shaped this way soo that when you wrap your fingers around the hilt, the interphalangeal joints are brought into vertical alignment and thus aligned with the edge of the sword. This helps to make edge alignment more intuitive and ergonomic.
It fills out the palm of the hand
What would be the benefit of cutting with the elbow? It looks to me (admittedly from my armchair) to severely restrict reach and power while offering nothing in return.
Edit: Just checked some of your other videos. I still don't see the benefit of restricting movement but I understand the benefit of leading with the elbow now.
Some styles are elbow jobs. Some people fight very close together. That is why there are specialists in wrestling and arm locks.
To behead in one stroke
Hi I’m a South Indian and I have a same question in long time but I can’t find the exact answer.getting answered also not satisfied. But have a strong reason for this .
It’s a hidden details.
My hand is also not fitted like you .
Nowadays every people hands also big size .
I can't unsee you being a vicar in this video
Clothing for a sword minister. Could refine the collar further. What sort of artifacts to go with such costume? What decoration or souvenir to wear? Good fashion statement.
Yay indian swords!!
when was the knuckle bow introduced to India?
I believe some time during the 1500s.
sir what should be the ideal height of an indian sword for a man of height 5'5" and for another man of height 5'10"?
What do Indian sources say about fencing techniques & hilt construction?
Are there in fact, orginal Indian sources that discuss this, if not, why not?
Obviously the various Indian warriors groups loved their weapons, surely they wrote books about them?
The spherical pommel can be found on Tuareg swords as well like the Takoba.