Significance of Beaded Edges/Borders on South Indian Weapons?

ArmsAndAntiques · 6th March 2019, 12:33 AM

It is important to distinguish between granular gold work, an ancient goldsmithing technique that in arms and armor is most prominently found on high quality Saudi saifs of the 19th and 20th century, and the beaded edges found on Indian arms.

The granular decorative element found in gold is un-related, in execution and placement on the arm itself, to the chiseling of iron of beaded borders, except in so far as both are decorative elements.

ariel · 6th March 2019, 02:13 AM

Decided to waste 5 minutes of my life to plowing the net. I Googled "rapier filigree"

Jim McDougall · 6th March 2019, 03:13 AM

Ariels search online has given way to perhaps a key word which might give us some perspective to Nihls original question. …...FILAGREE!

Apparently this word, which well describes the 'beaded' edges he is inquiring about in South Indian weapon decoration. It seems that filigree (from Lat. filum=thread; granum=grain...beads to Italian , filgrana). ...was prevalent in Italian, French and Portuguese metalwork from c.1660-late 19th c.

Perhaps this attractive fashion was adopted from these European sources through trade, as well known in India in these times. It is well known of course that European influences in arms was well established in India.

Clearly the use of beadwork has been present widely and through history, but here we are looking into its use in Southern India. Nihl prudently looked toward architectural inspirations as is clearly often the case with Indian hilts, but this particular feature does not seem apparent thus far.

While the inspiration for auspicious themes may often recall beads in various religious and traditional occasions in many parts of India, including of course Southern......perhaps the well known adoption of European influences might be considered. Thus Ariels 'wasted' time finding filigree laden rapiers and other swords maybe not so wasted after all.

ariel · 6th March 2019, 04:36 AM

Perhaps.
But I am willing to give Indian metalworkers more credit. After all, filigree is such a simple embellishment, that they could have “invented” it on their own. Filigree was used in the Ottoman realm, the Balkans, Caucasus, South Arabian and Western Europe.
There are even more astonishing examples of parallel development. I think I have shown here Central European Bauernwehr ( Cord) and Afghani Khyber ( Selaawa). The former is 15-16 century, the latter is known since the 19th. Their blades are identical, even though neither group knew about the existence of the other.
We just do not need to invent Vedic sacral roots to explain such a trivial detail of embellishment.
And if we decide to go for broke, we just need to Google “ filigree jewelry” : tons of them on the net from all over the world.

Nihl · 6th March 2019, 02:38 AM

Wow I didn't expect the discussion to pick up so quickly! Thanks to all for replying/contributing!

Just my 2 cents on the discussion so far, I largely agree with Jim's point about it being in effect a religious-auspicious kind of decoration. From what I recall in both Elgood & the Al Sabah Collection, the topic of one thing or another being an auspicious symbol comes up too many times to count, so it certainly wouldn't surprise me if that is ultimately the case for beaded edges as well. Perhaps someone with more knowledge (and time) than I have could cross-reference the amount of "beads" on these weapons, either in segments or as a whole, and see if they correspond with any important numbers. Without any proof though, I think it would be inappropriate to just call it a day based on any single speculation.

From what I can remember in Elgood (Hindu A&R), there was still mostly a focus on the rituals themselves, the mythology surrounding those rituals, and then some tidbits here and there on how weapons are related to the aforementioned mythology and rituals. This isn't at all meant to downplay how important and useful the text is, but it is meant to say that I can't remember much iconography being explained other than the rather obvious "plants & animals can all be linked to a deity or tale of some sort". That said, I do remember (I think from a later Elgood publication) it being mentioned that beads and bells and so on were tied to the legs of animals in order to drive off evil spirits, something related to Mercenary's first post, so that could be another solid clue. Still though I find it hard to believe that immobile beads or "solid" bells would do as much good as their more lively attached-to-limbs counterparts.

6th March 2019, 02:13 AM	#2
ariel Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Ann Arbor, MI Posts: 5,503	Decided to waste 5 minutes of my life to plowing the net. I Googled "rapier filigree" Attached Images

6th March 2019, 12:33 AM	#1
ArmsAndAntiques Member Join Date: Dec 2013 Posts: 80	It is important to distinguish between granular gold work, an ancient goldsmithing technique that in arms and armor is most prominently found on high quality Saudi saifs of the 19th and 20th century, and the beaded edges found on Indian arms. The granular decorative element found in gold is un-related, in execution and placement on the arm itself, to the chiseling of iron of beaded borders, except in so far as both are decorative elements.

6th March 2019, 03:13 AM	#3
Jim McDougall Arms Historian Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Route 66 Posts: 9,800	Ariels search online has given way to perhaps a key word which might give us some perspective to Nihls original question. …...FILAGREE! Apparently this word, which well describes the 'beaded' edges he is inquiring about in South Indian weapon decoration. It seems that filigree (from Lat. filum=thread; granum=grain...beads to Italian , filgrana). ...was prevalent in Italian, French and Portuguese metalwork from c.1660-late 19th c. Perhaps this attractive fashion was adopted from these European sources through trade, as well known in India in these times. It is well known of course that European influences in arms was well established in India. Clearly the use of beadwork has been present widely and through history, but here we are looking into its use in Southern India. Nihl prudently looked toward architectural inspirations as is clearly often the case with Indian hilts, but this particular feature does not seem apparent thus far. While the inspiration for auspicious themes may often recall beads in various religious and traditional occasions in many parts of India, including of course Southern......perhaps the well known adoption of European influences might be considered. Thus Ariels 'wasted' time finding filigree laden rapiers and other swords maybe not so wasted after all.

6th March 2019, 04:36 AM	#4
ariel Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Ann Arbor, MI Posts: 5,503	Perhaps. But I am willing to give Indian metalworkers more credit. After all, filigree is such a simple embellishment, that they could have “invented” it on their own. Filigree was used in the Ottoman realm, the Balkans, Caucasus, South Arabian and Western Europe. There are even more astonishing examples of parallel development. I think I have shown here Central European Bauernwehr ( Cord) and Afghani Khyber ( Selaawa). The former is 15-16 century, the latter is known since the 19th. Their blades are identical, even though neither group knew about the existence of the other. We just do not need to invent Vedic sacral roots to explain such a trivial detail of embellishment. And if we decide to go for broke, we just need to Google “ filigree jewelry” : tons of them on the net from all over the world.

6th March 2019, 02:38 AM	#5
Nihl Member Join Date: Feb 2018 Posts: 87	Wow I didn't expect the discussion to pick up so quickly! Thanks to all for replying/contributing! Just my 2 cents on the discussion so far, I largely agree with Jim's point about it being in effect a religious-auspicious kind of decoration. From what I recall in both Elgood & the Al Sabah Collection, the topic of one thing or another being an auspicious symbol comes up too many times to count, so it certainly wouldn't surprise me if that is ultimately the case for beaded edges as well. Perhaps someone with more knowledge (and time) than I have could cross-reference the amount of "beads" on these weapons, either in segments or as a whole, and see if they correspond with any important numbers. Without any proof though, I think it would be inappropriate to just call it a day based on any single speculation. From what I can remember in Elgood (Hindu A&R), there was still mostly a focus on the rituals themselves, the mythology surrounding those rituals, and then some tidbits here and there on how weapons are related to the aforementioned mythology and rituals. This isn't at all meant to downplay how important and useful the text is, but it is meant to say that I can't remember much iconography being explained other than the rather obvious "plants & animals can all be linked to a deity or tale of some sort". That said, I do remember (I think from a later Elgood publication) it being mentioned that beads and bells and so on were tied to the legs of animals in order to drive off evil spirits, something related to Mercenary's first post, so that could be another solid clue. Still though I find it hard to believe that immobile beads or "solid" bells would do as much good as their more lively attached-to-limbs counterparts.