[BANDOOK]

Originally Posted by Jim McDougall

While the brief responses are quite correct, I thought it might be helpful to offer a few extra words to explain why this blade is Indian for others who read here and future researchers.
If you note at the edge of the blade, the extended blocked section at the root which is blunt. This is inherently present in most cases on these blades to the point of being termed by Rawson, "the Indian ricasso'.

While the sword itself is known as a 'paluoar' typically attributed to Afghanistan, it must be noted that until the 20th century, these regions were known collectively in the British Raj as northern India. In Egerton (1884), these are depicted with other tulwars and classified 'Indian'. There are certain inherent characteristics which are sometimes found hybridized in regular form tulwars, which can often presumably offer potential classification of these to northern regions, perhaps Sind and Baluchistan. These would include the quartered guard with floral device or other fixture at center; the vertically fluted grip and the pierced openwork as instances.

As discussions through the years here have revealed, the term 'paluaor' is unknown in referring to these swords, which reflect the profound influence from the Deccan probably via ongoing diplomatic and cultural channels.

GREAT INFORMATION JIM,MANY THANKS