Sudanese kirach on ebay

Jim McDougall · 16th April 2010, 05:31 PM

Very interesting anomaly, but I do not think this weapon has anything to do with the kirach. The hilt seems to be a relatively modern interpretation of the tulwar hilt, which remains largely indiginous to the Indian subcontinent. The style of the tulwar hilt itself did of course travel to SE as the piso podang, and the Deccani style hilt similar to the tulwar with drooping quillons went as far north as Afghanistan as the paluoar. Aside from these, the hilt was not adopted elsewhere except perhaps in one off novelty situations.

Naturally that is what is suggested here, and of course it is possible that an Indian hilt might have been joined with a Sudanese blade, as seems the case, but for tribal use in Sudan, for me very doubtful.

I have seen these Indian tulwar hilts joined with kaskara blades on one, possibly two occasions, and as I recall, in somewhat questionable context.
The optimistic version would be that an innovative Sudanese armourer might have assembled this, but more likely a later marraige of components.

The distinctly Sudanese style blade with thuluth calligraphy is very much in the style of the Mahdist period, ending with Omdurman in 1898, and for a time afterwards there was a degree of production for the mounting number of British colonial market. These blades, nor the actual Mahdist blades, were not produced for export, so the thought the blade could have ended up in India via trade seems also unlikely.

An interesting item, and as always, look forward to the views of others with interest in this particular field of collecting.

All best regards,
Jim

Thread Tools	Search this Thread
Show Printable Version Email this Page	Search this Thread: Advanced Search
Display Modes
Switch to Linear Mode Switch to Hybrid Mode Threaded Mode

16th April 2010, 05:31 PM	#3
Jim McDougall Arms Historian Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Route 66 Posts: 10,296	Very interesting anomaly, but I do not think this weapon has anything to do with the kirach. The hilt seems to be a relatively modern interpretation of the tulwar hilt, which remains largely indiginous to the Indian subcontinent. The style of the tulwar hilt itself did of course travel to SE as the piso podang, and the Deccani style hilt similar to the tulwar with drooping quillons went as far north as Afghanistan as the paluoar. Aside from these, the hilt was not adopted elsewhere except perhaps in one off novelty situations. Naturally that is what is suggested here, and of course it is possible that an Indian hilt might have been joined with a Sudanese blade, as seems the case, but for tribal use in Sudan, for me very doubtful. I have seen these Indian tulwar hilts joined with kaskara blades on one, possibly two occasions, and as I recall, in somewhat questionable context. The optimistic version would be that an innovative Sudanese armourer might have assembled this, but more likely a later marraige of components. The distinctly Sudanese style blade with thuluth calligraphy is very much in the style of the Mahdist period, ending with Omdurman in 1898, and for a time afterwards there was a degree of production for the mounting number of British colonial market. These blades, nor the actual Mahdist blades, were not produced for export, so the thought the blade could have ended up in India via trade seems also unlikely. An interesting item, and as always, look forward to the views of others with interest in this particular field of collecting. All best regards, Jim