Hindu Arms and Ritual: Arms and Armour from India 1400-1865
Most studies of Indian armor have concentrated on Mughal arms from northern India, and there has been no serious study of Hindu arms since the nineteenth century. Robert Elgood seeks to fill this scholarly gap with Hindu Arms and Ritual, a new and richly illustrated study that examines pieces from the Tanjore Palace Armory in south India.\ Tanjore arms reveal a wealth of information about Hindu warrior society through the intricate and symbolic iconography carved on them. As Elgood shows,...
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Most studies of Indian armor have concentrated on Mughal arms from northern India, and there has been no serious study of Hindu arms since the nineteenth century. Robert Elgood seeks to fill this scholarly gap with Hindu Arms and Ritual, a new and richly illustrated study that examines pieces from the Tanjore Palace Armory in south India. Tanjore arms reveal a wealth of information about Hindu warrior society through the intricate and symbolic iconography carved on them. As Elgood shows, inscribed gods, goddesses, and sacred animals and plants infused the weaponry with divine powers of assistance. Drawing on evidence from various sources, such as ancient manuscripts and contemporary art, Elgood also challenges the commonly held opinion that most south Indian arms date from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Instead, he argues, many pieces were made during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and are attributable to the Vijayanagara and Nayaka courts. This beautifully illustrated work is an invaluable contribution to the historical study of Indian arms and material culture.
Foreword71Introduction to the objects, sources and research into Hindu arms history102The Ankusa203The decline and fall of the Tanjore Armoury294Warfare in the Vijayanagara state and its successors from the thirteenth to the eighteenth centuries425Hindu armour in South India546Sacrifice, the goddess and weapons667A twelfth-century Chola bronze temple sword768Swords in the Vijayanagara and Nayaka periods799Ritual kingship, power and weapons in South India10110Dharma and Dasara in relation to Vijayanagara10411Royal Vijayanagara swords and daggers from the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries10912Four important sixteenth- or early seventeenth-century South Indian swords12713The iconography of the pieces12914Weapon design and the powers of good and evil13615Sixteenth-century Katars from Srirangam14516Daggers in the Vijayanagara and Nayaka periods16317Indian arms' exercises and exhibitions of prowess18118Axes and maces18619Bows, boomerangs and spears19020The metal-working tradition in Southern India195App. IAnnotated translation of chapter 7 of the Nujum al-'Ulum (the stars of the sciences) : Bijapur, 1570205App. IIInventory of the arms and armour in the Tanjore Armoury, May 1860217
