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Hey is it amber ???

Oh it is sardonyx....'tula daan' on their birthdays and adoption of chattrr (umbrella) as seen in this magnificent piece were absolutely Hindu customs which the Mughals adopted.

Gorgous!

Digvijay Singh Kushwaha: You can help me with the meaning of the following descriptors used in the exhibit. "Koftgari, forte, cartouche, nasta'liq, trefoil, parasol, watered steel, chape with bud finial blade". The note also mentions Lord of the conjunction between Jupiter and Saturn. ich part of the inscription on the blade shows that? I could see onle Shah-e-giran. The word giran here I presume is the same as grahan - eclipse. Planetary conjunction is nothing but an eclipse.

piece of art ,,,amber hilt i suppose

@ Shekhar you’ve touched upon a topic very close to my heart: Koftgari is an art of false damascening. Instead of cutting furrows in the metal, and then inlaying gold or silver wire, in Koftgari the part of the weapon to be ornamented is first cross-hatched or cut across with sharp lines. The pattern is then engraved with a pointed ‘cherma’ on the hatched ground. One end of the gold wire is fixed to the hatched surface with a few taps of the hammer and the pattern is then followed with the wire, bending it backwards and forwards as often as may be required and beating it into the ground, to which it firmly adheres. The metal is then heated and burnished. In true damascene, the amount of gold required is considerable and this makes the process expensive. In Koftgari the grooves of the design are not as deep and this reduces the quantity of the precious metals required and therefore the cost.However if done skillfully done koftgari produces an equally good effect as true damascene. There is however another form of damascene popular with Sirohi craftsmen of Rajasthan where the surface is first made silvery by a profuse inlaying of silver wire and then gold wires are inlaid to a pattern creating a lavish and rich effect. The art of true damascene is alive and practiced in Jaipur,Udaipur, Alwar and Sirohi in Rajasthan.Datiya in MP. Trivandrum and Bidar in South and in Kashmir. Needless to say except in Sirohi weapons do not figure in the damascene of today. Forte: Is a part of the sword blade from the hilt to the middle. This is where most styles of ornamentation including damascene were employed most lavishly. I wish I could draw and tell you the various parts of a sword. The blade: The elongated one that goes deep into the hilt is called the Tang (Dhumla). The part just adjoining the hilt is the Ricasso (khazana), then you have the edge (Dhaar).The back edge is called a Pitha and the false edge the Pipla and of course understandablt the tip is called the Nok. The bottom part of the Ricasso is called a Forte. The Hilt: On the opposite end of the nok is the Tang button (mogra), then the flower (phool) then the pommel (Katori), the knucle guard (Paraj), grip (putola) , the quillon (Tholia), the square (chowk) and finally the langet (Narahe) Cartouche is a scroll like ornamentation as you may have seen on top of Classical columns in architecture. Silver cartouches were immensely popular to house the shahi firmans during the mughal times.Even now very elaborate cartouches are produced in white metal by the Buddhist artisans who make delightful prayer wheels in a variation of that design. Nastaliq of course is the Persianised form of writing Urdu that developed during the Mughal rule.Just as Hindu arms throughout our history have had holy verses chiseled in relief the weapons used by Muslims had talismanic signs or quotations from the Quran. On few swords the whole blade was inscribed in relief with Quranic quotations in large letters. Arms have been embellished with geometrical and arabesque designs showing interlaced foliate scrolls (cartouches). Recurring themes were lilies, lotus and rose. Figures of birds especially parrots and peacocks were immensely popular among Hindu arms. Among animals tigers, lions, ram, horse or elephant were most popolar. Hunting scenes were commonly depicted. Tiger springing on an antelope. War scenes were also popular. The decoration on south Indian arms as represented by Tanjore were the most majestic and tended to be more exuberant and fanciful with representations of fantastic beasts, snakes, fish, lions and demons all richly and deeply carved. The Bombay Museum has a separate section for swords and daggers whose hilts have pommels in the shape of several animals Parasol is an umbrella (Chattrr) which was a Hindu custom which the Mughals adopted. It signifies sovereignty and a parasol on a sword or a dagger means that the sword belongs to a Mughal emperor. (Remember how Shivaji maharaj is repeatedly referred to as a ‘chattra-pati ?) Trefoil may refer to a three pronged branching out ornamentation on a sword or a dagger. Several techniques of ornamentation on weapons have employed in India: Damascening, Enammelling, Bidri, jewelling, Niello, Gilding, chiseling and etching and finally the lost wax process. Mughal and medieval Hindu weapons became more elaborate in their ornamentation by around 1400 A.D. Being gifted a weapon was a great honour that the Mughals bestowed upon their confidantes. The shield is deemed the only fit salver on which to present gifts and accordingly in a rajput court shawls, brocades, scarves and jewels are always presented to a guest on bucklers or shields so naturally they became more ornate. With time carrying a sword or a dagger became a symbol of personal adornment. Among Rajputs ladies’ daggers were most fantastically ornate.The fact that we worship our arms and weapons and consider them a roop of Durga went a long way in they getting b

Watering: Watered blade became hugely popular during the Mughal period.In high quality blades a watered effect showing a pattern of wavy lines or circular knot like designs is often found. This is often confused with Damascening ,the art of inlaying gold, silver and occasionally copper wire on the surface of the iron or steel blade of a sword.Damascus had a reputation for the manufacture of the finest steel weapons but the metals from which the ancient blades of Damascus were made went from India ! Indian steel or wootz was exported from Kutch to the ports of the Persian Gulf.The pattern in the Indian steel blades of this period was produced by the old steel preparation method.Hot crumbled iron was re-heated in a crucible, with charcoal around it.After a considerable time the iron became re-carbonised. When it was drawn out on an anvil as steel, it showed a beautiful pattern of lines through the crystallization of the metal. This is called the “watering effect” or what we call the Jauhar in Rajasthan. Various patterns emerge on the blade when watered, showing meandering or wavy lines, or a series of nodule like designs covering the entire blade. While during Akbar and Jehangir practicality and aesthetics were in balance and swords and daggers of that period are superb cutting instruments ,by the time of Aurangzeb the desire for display overcame the importance of function and the sword became a mere ornament, a personal piece of jewelry. The decorative design became more crowded and simply filled every inch of space.Even blades were chiseled in relief with animal or human figurines (another Hindu feature that the Mughals adopted) thus damaging the surface and such blades became useless as weapons. Ancient and medieval arms are a passion with me and I can pontificate on this topic for hours. In my opinion the specimens from South India particularly Tanjore are decidedly breathtakingly beautiful and awesome pieces of Hindu weaponry while the Mughal weapons and armour, in the north are the best that the world has even seen in terms of their embellishment.

Beautiful explain Bhai

Digvijay singh love your note , thank you

My pleasure your excellencies.