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Originally Posted by DavidFriedman
Ian, Philip and Jim, thank you for your responses. Jim, your references are amazing, thank you. I have Egertons entry, but did not know of Sinclair’s. I look forward to digging up his references.
I showed the weapon to a friend, who thought it was a fantastic piece. He noted some number (perhaps museum inventory numbers) which my fading eyesight missed. Tomorrow in the light and with the aid of a lens, I will take a picture and post the numbers on the rattan.
I’m wondering if inside of the rattan, if there may be a thin iron rod bridging through the entire length, the top and bottom ferrules, pinned in by pins of indeterminate length. I’m thinking to find a very strong magnet to feel any magnetic pull along the shaft.
Thanks again for all of your help. It will be exciting to study the tribes that were mentioned.
One more thing. I asked a teacher of Indian martial arts about it. He mentioned that, from his understanding, Kaparlik (sp?) skull carrying acolytes of the Shiva tradition (if I understood correctly) used this type of mace/staff. A legend was that these semi-naked spiritual warriors would sneak up on tigers and kill them in their sleep. It sounds to me more a metaphor of courage, stealth and wildness, rather than an actual practice. But I wonder if that is a lead to follow up on as well.
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Glad I could add to the entries with the guys here, I excerpted all the material from Sinclair which is simply a brief article in that periodical, and I had a photocopy from the British Museum from about 20 yrs ago.
It does seem possible that the weapon in Egerton is the same as the one in V&A holdings as its provenance is noted as Satara, as noted in his reference.
It is a shame that so much has been put into storage at V& A since Tony North passed .
There is a great deal of 'lore' on many Indian weapons, as well as many of the esoteric tribal groups, religious ascetics and cults. One such group was the 'thuggee' (even mentioned in the 30's film "Gunga Din") who were notorious killers and robbers who had a mysterious and unique axe they used.
Much of this material can be found (with notable sleuthing) in the volumes of adventure, travel literature of the early to mid 20th c. but not easy to locate. Still, thats the challenge!!!! '...the games's afoot!!!'.