A MAGNIFICENT INDIAN SWORD (FIRANGI) WITH EUROPEAN STEEL BLADE, 17TH/18TH CENTURY, WITH A FINE SCABBARD SIGNED BY RAM DAKHS SANWAT, ALWAR, RAJASTHAN, INDIA, DATED 1856

with closed basket hilt velvet-lined and decorated in koftgari, a straight, cut-and-thrust imported Portuguese blade with shallow grooves, discoidal pommel and curved top-spike, the forte decorated in gold with an extending palmette, the blade with a devanagari inscription, worn and illegible, the scabbard chased and worked with high relief figural and floral designs

Quantity: 2

PROVENANCE

reputedly from the collection of the Nizam of Hyderabad, most probably received as a gift from the Hindu court of Alwar in Rajasthan, circa 1856

CATALOGUE NOTE

This magnificent sword with its imported Portuguese blade and Hindu basket-type hilt, characterised by velvet padding, is a superlative example of the Indian Firangi.

The expression Firangi or Franj is derived from the European "Frank". Franj, as a blanket term denotes all Europeans regardless of their national identity, and had been coined in the Islamic world since the medieval period. However, from the sixteenth century onwards in India the term had developed from its original connotation into a reference to anything foreign, whether man or object.

In this case the term refers specifically to a sword with a closed hilt, and an imported straight blade. These were largely exported to India by the Portuguese, although local armourers were known to produce their own imitations preferring the European style to the indigenous curved blade. Used mostly in the Mahratta empire, such blades were often mounted in the local style, with the discoidal pommel, curved top spike and flanged quillons exhibited here. A similar sword can be seen in the portrait of Mohamed Ali Khan Walajan, Nawab of Arcot, by George Willison in 1777.

The spine of the scabbard is signed by the maker "Ram Dakhs Sanwat, in Alwar in the year 1856", and is decorated in relief with scenes from Hindu and Jain mythology. Of the twenty-six intricately detailed cartouches the first shows Ganesh and Shiva, and the following show the ten avatara or incarnations of the god Vishnu: Matsya, Kurma, Varaha, Narasimha, Vamana, Parasurama, Rama, Krishna, Buddha, and Kalki. Two further scenes are depicted on the same side of the scabbard showing Viasmuni and Kamadhenu. The other side of the scabbard includes the following scenes: Ravana, Shiva and Parvati; Bima, one of the Pandava brothers from the Mahabharata; Brahma and Hamsa-vahana; a Jain tirthankara or saint; a scene of butter offering between two women; Rishba, a Jain saint; Haigrava; Vishnu, Garuda the kite vehicle and Lakshmi, goddess of fortune; Kubera, god of wealth and the underworld; a Jain saint; the sage Vishvamitra; Kapilmuni, a Hindu saint; and finally a scene with Rama, Lakshmana and Sita. A peacock flares its tail at the bottom of the chape, whilst both sides are beautifully worked with a floral design.

The scabbard was just as much a status symbol as the blade that it sheathed, if not more so being the most visible component of the sword. The practical use of the scabbard was to protect the sword from the weather and to keep the blade clean; most are fashioned from wood, metal or leather, and are plainly appointed, simple affairs. However, ceremonial or presentation weapons and those of a royal provenance required more impressive and lavishly decorated scabbards, such as the present example.