[Jim McDougall]

It seems I have been spellbound by this chilanum, and it has reawakened a long standing fascination with this interesting dagger form. Jens' excellent and concise detail concerning Anup Singh, the Maharajah of Bikaner (thank you for the illustration Jens!) led me to revisit "Hindu Arms and Ritual" by Robert Elgood. This reference I cannot emphasize enough in understanding the weaponry of India, and it is important to realize that regardless of the denominator in title, these weapons must be considered comprehensively, just as Elgood brilliantly illustrates. There is far too much geopolitical flux and diffusion of style and all other influences throughout this magnificent history to effectively confine weapons types and styles regionally. We can however offer speculations based on what we know of this history, and feel at least some sense of plausibility in many cases.

The chilanum as a 'style' is recorded as early as the Bijapur manuscript 'Nujum al Alam' (1570) and has been noted, many of these were captured at the seige of Adoni in 1689, where these weapons along with a host of others were returned to Bikaner. Here in the armoury at Junagarh Fort, a profound selection of examples of arms and armor of Vijayanagara style (the empire from 1350-1565) and Deccani forms have presented an excellent benchmark for the study of these weapons.

Dmitrys example here, as we have noted, is most probably of 17th century, and the hilt style seems to correspond to the khanda hilts of early 17th century. The hilts of these 'chilanum' seem widely varied, but one that I most commonly think of is the nearly anthromorphic styling seen with the pommel in a sort of 'winged' shape with the guard in a splayed corresponding form. I have often thought that this interesting style hilt recalled the ancient type hilts from the LaTene culture, where many of the foundations of Celtic art can be found. The antennae style pommel projections on earlier hilts , and the other anthromorphic styles of a figure with outstretched arms and the legs forming the crossguard seem tempting to consider in association with some of these chilanum hilts. Naturally academic caution seems to have prevented the actual presentation of such free association in most references or discussions as there is clearly no supportable line of development, but I have long had these thoughts so make note here.
In looking at these hilts in profile, there also remains the possibility of viewing them in a floral sense as well, with the pommel knob being a bud instead of a head, and the 'arms' being petals.

In looking at other variations of hilts on these daggers, some are with the closed hilt and knuckleguard while others are open hilt. Some of these have a lunette style pommel, which developed on the recurved blade khanjharli daggers, and it should be noted is present on the 16th century sword hilts of Persian form with drooping quillons. This same style hilt (also with baluster grip) is considered Deccani and appears later in Afghan regions on the sabres we know as paluoar in the langet and drooping quillons, though the pommel is cupped, recalling again certain influence of the khanda.

It seems the connection between Afghanistan and the Deccan has been long established, and the nuances of Mahratta influence is seen incorporated into many of these hilt elements. While the chilanum is often noted as a favored weapon of the Mahrattas, here we see it was also well known in Mughal weaponry as well as early as the Vijayanagara Empire in the south. A number of examples also are similar to the daggers of the northwestern regions of the Kalash (also known as Kafirs), which are often found in number in Nepal.

For me, after spending some time researching the history surrounding this particular dagger style, as always, I see the weapon itself serving as a guide through history and wonderful visions in perspective of the times from which it came.

Best regards,
Jim


Added the map of India where Adoni is shown.
A group of chilanum from Christies in 1998...the hilts with the straight H type form are those known as katara and attributed to the Kafirs (now Kalash tribal groups of Chitral) but often found in Nepal as well.