A pair of Khandas for Comments

Jens Nordlunde · 2nd December 2007, 04:25 PM

Olikara,

A nice pair of firangis, although they could do with some cleaning. Thank you for the measurers, do you have a weight as well?
It will be interesting to see if the hilts are of wootz – as some of them are.

It is hard to say if they are from Mysore, but to be on the save side, I would say Deccan, as these type of swords were much used in this area, and depending on which map you are looking at, Mysore could be part of Deccan.

Is there any inscription or other form for decoration on the blades? Probably not since you don’t mention any, but I thought I would ask all the same. The firangi blades I have seen are from about 80 cm to about 105 cm, but I have read about firangi blade being quite a bit longer. Sometimes the European blades were used as they were, and sometimes they were shortened, as fighting with very long blades is very difficult, so it needed a lot of swordsmanship to be able to handle these long blades.

The blades look European to me, but they could as well have been made in India, like so many of these blades. This would however make them firangis, as it is the blade type, together with the hilt, which makes them either a firangi or a khanda, not where the blade was made, as this can be impossible to prove.

The khandas are double edged, mostly with a round tip, not a pointed one, and as the blades often are very flexible, they are often reinforced at the upper half of the backside of the blade.

Jens

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2nd December 2007, 04:25 PM	#3
Jens Nordlunde Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Europe Posts: 2,718	Olikara, A nice pair of firangis, although they could do with some cleaning. Thank you for the measurers, do you have a weight as well? It will be interesting to see if the hilts are of wootz – as some of them are. It is hard to say if they are from Mysore, but to be on the save side, I would say Deccan, as these type of swords were much used in this area, and depending on which map you are looking at, Mysore could be part of Deccan. Is there any inscription or other form for decoration on the blades? Probably not since you don’t mention any, but I thought I would ask all the same. The firangi blades I have seen are from about 80 cm to about 105 cm, but I have read about firangi blade being quite a bit longer. Sometimes the European blades were used as they were, and sometimes they were shortened, as fighting with very long blades is very difficult, so it needed a lot of swordsmanship to be able to handle these long blades. The blades look European to me, but they could as well have been made in India, like so many of these blades. This would however make them firangis, as it is the blade type, together with the hilt, which makes them either a firangi or a khanda, not where the blade was made, as this can be impossible to prove. The khandas are double edged, mostly with a round tip, not a pointed one, and as the blades often are very flexible, they are often reinforced at the upper half of the backside of the blade. Jens