It would be very cool to study the history of material culture on the basis of all kinds of museum exhibits posted on the Internet. Just a list of topics and a list of museums is given. You can go from the topic, you can from the museum, or you can from the era, the country. The main thing is that there is one, and a high, quality standard. Same description style, photos with a specific resolution and with a specific background. And so that access and downloads would be free. Today, alas, it is not so. In our local history museums there is simply no money for filming and digitizing artifacts. If you want to take a photo in the Penza Museum of Local Lore, pay 100 rubles, and for a photo without a tripod. In museums with a higher rank, the price for a photo that you order from them reaches 200 and above. But the same is true in India. Shoot in museums - as much as you want, but like that "for beautiful eyes" you won't be allowed to make high-quality photos, and there is no money to shoot yourself. So it turns out that such an approach is affordable only for very rich and advanced museums, such as the Tokyo National Museum, the Regional Museum in Los Angeles, and, of course, the Metropolitan Museum in New York. The latter in this regard is a cut above all others. And the navigation is simple and there are a lot of photos of the same quality and very detailed descriptions. There are about 1450 of them in arms alone! However, there is one interesting feature. When you look at these photos, grouped by several dozen on the page, you see that many "pictures" are missing, although there is a signature. But after a while they arise, as a result of which you have to look, look and watch! Moreover, it is not a fact that the photo that is now will be on its page tomorrow. Such is the strange "roulette"! However, in any case, it is better than in other places, so this is where to take an example for those museums that want to go down this path.
And with regard to Indian weapons, the Metropolitan Museum has collected not only an impressive collection of Indian weapons (as well as Japanese, Tibetan, Chinese, knightly armor …), but also very skillfully posted their photos. Of course, it would be more interesting and useful to describe in all details when this or that type of weapon appeared, how it was used, but … you must agree that this is a work for a whole multi-page monograph. So let's just look at what this museum has (and not only it, for the sake of completeness of disclosing the topic), and then … maybe someone "young" will do it later ?!
Well, the best place to start would be with sabers, because they are … truly beautiful!
1. Here is a Shemshir saber of the Indo-Iranian model, the blade of which dates from 1748-1749 or 1750-1751. The blade is Iranian, the scabbard and sling are Indian.
2. Shemshir from Persia (about 1800), but it could well have been used in India, especially since it was made of Indian damask steel. An absolutely luxurious thing: small pearls are inserted into the slits near the blade, the decoration is made with enamel, gold, emeralds, "fish skin", the handle is made of ivory.
3. Turkish tooth or kylich. The blade dates from 1550-1551. Again, the range of such blades was very wide, they are also in the Kremlin Armory (Prince Mstislavsky's saber), and in Indian museums.
4. Sword from Tibet, XVIII - XIX centuries Moreover, it was from Tibet, where the "real knights" were seen back in 1935 and even later.
5. Pata of the 18th century. - a very interesting Indian sword, the blade of which was a continuation of the steel "glove". The "container" for the fist is shaped like the head of a toothy monster, from whose mouth the head of an elephant protrudes. His tusks serve to prevent the opponent's blade from sliding off his hand. It is not easy to imagine how they fought with such "swords", because at the same time completely different muscle groups were straining. One thing is certain: it took a long time to learn. Anyone who used to fight with a saber could not just switch to stalemate!
6. A sword from Bhutan - a kingdom near Nepal, XVIII - XIX centuries.
7. Turkish saber of the 18th century. with a secret - a sheath for a dart. Finishing: silver, niello, leather. Blade length 58.42 cm. A very popular weapon in the East.
8. Turkish sinjal with a "flaming blade" in the style of the Malay kris and an onyx hilt decorated with gold and rubies. The scabbard is decorated with silver filigree and large emeralds. XIX century. Length 56.5 cm. Total weight 396.9 g.
9. Double cutout from the British collection of Wallace of the XIX century. The British, too, as you can see, are good at giving their artifacts, but the Americans have almost more of them! The length of the blades is 18.4 cm.
10. L-shaped cutar with two blades and a guard for the hand, XVIII century. Weight 575.5 g.
11. T-shaped cutar with three blades, XVI - XVII centuries. Weight 802.3 g.
12. Kutar from South India with three blades of European production. Length 53.7 cm. Weight 677.6 g.
13. Cutar with sliding blades of the "scissors" type, XVIII - XIX centuries. Length 48.9 cm. Weight 864.7 g.
14. Jambia. Turkey, XIX century. Weight 507.5 g; scabbard weight 229.6 g.
15. Indian dagger of the XIX century. Length 46.7 cm. Weight 430.9 g; scabbard weight 280.7 g.
16. Indian dagger of the 18th century. Finishes: shark skin, gold, silver, emeralds, rubies, sapphires.
17. Indian hajarli dagger of the 17th - 18th centuries. Length 29.2 cm. Weight 266.5 g.
18. Indian or Nepalese kukri of the 18th - 19th centuries. Length 44.1 cm. Weight 396.9 g.
19. Indian poleaxe from the Royal Arsenal from Leeds in England.
20. Indian battle ax Tabar, XIX century. A blade is embedded in the handle, which, if necessary, can be removed and put into action. Length 56 cm.; dagger length 26 cm.
21. Zagnol "raven beak" of the 18th - 19th centuries. Length 70.5 cm. Blade length 13.5 cm.
22. Charaina - "four mirrors", XVIII century. Appeared in Persia in the 16th century.
23. Mughal helmet, India, XVIII century. Victoria and Albert Museum, London.
24. Indian musket 1835, British castle. Caliber 13.97 mm. Weight 4366 g. Length 149.86 cm. Barrel length 108.59 cm. Twisted Damascus barrel.
25. Indian musket of the 18th century. Length 156.9 cm.
26. For comparison, our musket from Dagestan, Kubachin work approx. 1800-1850 Caliber 14.22 mm. Length 132.08 cm. The Arabic inscription on the barrel reads: "Belongs to Abu Muslim Khan Shamkhal."
27. And this is a visible example of the interpenetration of cultures: the blade is from the Turkish tooth, and the handle is from the Indian thalwar.
Well, here we have touched, and very superficially, the topic of Indian national weapons, and there is only one conclusion: if you understand it thoroughly, then you will need to spend a lot of effort, time and money! After all, there is a sea of information even only for one thalwara. Different blades, different handles depending on the time, area - more barrel-shaped or less, with or without a guard-bow, styles of design - in one word, study and study. Even to view them in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum, it takes a lot of time, and there are still museums in New Delhi, Hyderabad, Mumbai. That is, it is desirable to know English and … at least Hindi, well, it is also very desirable to visit India. So this is an interesting business, but difficult and expensive!
