Significance of Beaded Edges/Borders on South Indian Weapons?

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.

6th March 2019, 02:13 AM	#1
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, 03:13 AM	#2
Jim McDougall Arms Historian Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Route 66 Posts: 10,285	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	#3
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.