The lady who owns my local corner shop has the surname Talwar, and she was very happy that I knew her name means sword.

If I recall correctly - Nidar Singh (Shastarvidiya) stated that different Tulwar style hilts are used with somewhat different techniques (with some disks being extremely restrictive to wrist movement, and other disks allowing some wrist movement). He distinguishes between 'village arts' and the more elite/trained/kshatriya derived techniques (similar to Europeans talking about 'common fencers' vs. masters). Shastar vidiya (roughly 'weapons science') is one form of these elite training regimes which doesn't permit wrist movement when using disk hilted sword (but does in some other circumstances - such as some forms of stick fighting). So he acknowledges some diversity of techniques in India - but wrist movement really is frowned upon as poorer technique. I hope this info is useful. Great video btw!

Sword Pommels have Sun carved on it, Due to Rajputs has come from "Agni kullha" whose ensestiers are "Solar Dynasty" from whom lord Rama, & Buddha has comes. If their is no sun on it, it mean this one is Mughal Tulwar.

I can't help thinking that the difference in fighting styles might be down to the context in other weapons used, and the way that differs in Afghanistan vs India. Specifically I'm thinking of how Afghanistani swordmen would often fight opponents wielding chooras/Khyber knives since pulwars were relatively more scarce and associated with the elite, compared to India where tulwars were much more ubiquitous and were commonly wielded by almost all levels of society from Maharajahs to freemen. In those different environments I can see that pulwar-wielding Afghans would be incentivised to extend their wrist more in fighting in order to maximise the reach advantage their longer weapon gave them over choora-wielding opponents whereas in India there was much less reach advantage between different soldiers so swordsmen were more incentivised to use a rigid wrist to deliver draw or push cuts and maximise damage even if that required a closer in style of fighting.

those arnt stones in the pommel, those are the souls of people who were ended rightly...

You are right...the sword you are showing is actually Maratha blades...they were famous for fighting big armies with smaller numbers... They were trained to fight 9 swordsmen all together.. But other north Indian kingdoms had different styles

8:42 I guess Matt is right, that the pommels from Afghanistan are bigger, because of using the wrist more. But I'm pretty sure, despite of Matts doubts, that this design of the pommel is very beneficial for cavallerymen. We shouldn't forget, that Afghanistan has a long equestrian tradition, with its nomadic traditions. Maybe it was intendet for mounted use on dromedaries or horses. The heavier pommel may be used as a counter weight, which may have an influence on the balance, while riding and hitting. It might also be, that a heavier hilt or pommel at the rear of the weapon, may help to absorbe the recoil of a hit. But I think it can hang together with a special swordsman ship too, like Matt mentioned all ready. I suspect, that the cavallerymen, especially on dromedaries, had to lean far out for there attacks. This reminds me to the Afghan game "Buzkasch" "goat pulling", which seems to me an appropriate training method for cavallerymen, in a similar way, like Polo does. Please forgive me my grammar and spelling mistakes. I couldn't use auto-correction features, I'm tired and I'm not a native English speaker.😅

The design of swords in south India more closely resembles earlier Indian swords, including the pommel. But regarding the difference between Indian and Afghan swordsmanship, specifics are a bit difficult to pinpoint since Afghan swordplay hasn't been well-preserved like in India or reconstructed as in Iran. But from some of the early descriptions it's pretty clear that the style of fighting was different. P Bramley described Indian warriors as preferring to circle and weary the opponent, waiting for an opening. On the other hand he described Afghan warriors as more offensive, preferring to charge in and advance during a fight. Also, a folk legend in Afghanistan tells of an agile Indian stick-fighter who loses to the more direct style of Afghan staffplay. The story deals with sticks rather than swords but I think it's a clue to the difference between the two fighting styles. It might be worth taking into account that Afghanistan had more influence from the Middle East and Central Asia as well

This is a great video, and I hope it receives more views. I was wondering if the sword-wielding variations relate to battle formations.

Being myself caucasian, despite active efforts to not be entirely eurocentric, I also dont know enough about the regions / period to make any declarative ststatements. But what about diversity of combatant roles, environments, and unit configurations necessitating a more flexible weapon for the Afghani? It would seem to me that as India tended to have stronger central government and therefore stronger military organization, Indian troops would be more likely to fight in regulated and drilled military units, overseen by acknowledged commanders (who may or may not have also been better at fighting, but whose authority was at least repsected on the field), clear knowledge of what they themselves and other troops could and could not accomplish, and around generally larger numbers of combatants on the field, both friend and foe. This environment would lend itself to a more formal, systematic style of fighting. And although India does have fairly diverse geography, I know most of the population lived in the more or less flat southern or northern regions; not so many in the mountainous central part. So the actual battlefields themselves were probably more regular than those of Afganistan. Therefore a sword which optimised certain characteristics, which were themselves seen to be optimal for the given conditions of a fight, was developed in India. As mentioned, Afganistan is more mountainous, but more importantly, it does not have the history of a strong central authority that India does. The tribe was (and still is) the unit central to Afghani political organization. This means that armies would be smaller, and the troops in them would be less likely to be specialists and more likely to find themselves fighting under varying circumstances: sometimes on foot, sometimes on horseback; sometimes among many allies and/or in a large unit, other times with only handful against a similar small number of enemy. The tribal organization might also have meant that in those larger battles there wasn't one recognized leader who could command all the fighters, nor could combatants of any rank as confidently rely upon the skills of neighboring units in the way that an Indian swordsman probably could. In other words, the nature of society, political organization, geography, and style of conflict necessitated a more flexible sword design in Afghanistan. Different designs for the different CONTEXTS in which the two nationalities of swordsmen expected to be fighting, one might say. Just an idea, worth what you paid for it.

Just some conjecture here, but perhaps the Indian tulwars had larger pummel disks because it created more protection for the hand as more warriors on the subcontinent would have been more richly armored, thus the hand needed more protection and the strike needed more than just wrist strength to be effective in battle. And considering the terrain of Afghanistan being considerably more rocky, more of the fighters would be less armored and the sword needed to be more nimble? What do others think of this idea?

Now these are the videos I subbed for.

Love your channel been binge waching all of your vids

Hilt was for decoration purpose, In Gandahr, now day khandhar they use emrald. Indian sowrds used dimonds, gold engraving and other things. Indian sowrds were more lighter in weight and made of woodtz steel (damascus).

I love your videos, i have a question about other types of indian weapons, like the Spears they used or polearms during the mughal empire.

What is the name of this fencing manuscript that you say is here in Lucknow, Matt? Maybe I can make some facsimiles of it if I've got the name.

I've got a couple older poulwars with hilts like you show here. One sort of subtle thing I've noticed is that the pommels have slight but noticeable wear where the base of the outside of the hand would rub against it if you used it with a little more wrist with a hammer grip

Would the environment in which the blades' developers resided have affected the styles of combat that the Tulwar and Pulwar respectively lend themselves to? The disk pommel Tulwar seems to prefer to be used in much closer quarters than the dome pommeled Pulwar, which appears to be able to function fine in close but retains an easier reaching or casting ability over the Tulwar. I may not be 100% accurate in this belief, but India is/was much more densely wooded (jungles) than the Afghan region (from the images I've seen that area is allot like the Mohave out here in California, a fairly arid desert chaparral) which tends to have a bit more space for movement.

Very interesting as always! I'd love to learn more about the sword culture of Central/ South Asia; there aren't a lot of good sources in the West.

Interesting video as always. After watching a lot of your videos on 19th century swords, it strikes me that most military swords and sabers (with the exception of stuff like the 1796 etc) tend to have quite narrow blades, especially when compared to most medieval European swords and Asian sabers. I actually read somewhere that it's comparable to the design of the katana, with the not very wide but quite thick blade, although this struck me as a bit strange of a statement. Why is this the case, and doesn't it negatively impact cutting ability? What advantages do these narrow blades give?

I think another piece of evidence to your theory would be comparing the Pulwar to other weapons used in Afghanistan and seeing if wrist motion is more conducive to fighting systems with those weapons, meaning that simplifying the fighting techniques to work regardless of what weapon you pick up and modifying an Indian sword design to fit in with the same style of fighting as say a Persian Shasmshir or a Khyber Knife. It would seem that the curved hilt style of the shamshir and other middle east style swords is actually more conducive to wrist strikes than the straight hilt on the talwar/pulwar, so possibly the style of Pulwar swordsmanship that was prevalent in Aghanistan was one decended from Shamshir techniques but used with an adapted Indian weapon, since you couldn't use the wrist strikes from a Persian system with a weapon designed for an Indian system that uses a specialized grip.

Superb content! Subscribed.

Really interesting. I'd love to hear you describe how the messer should be used. There's not a lot of guidance on KZfaq on those.

"Flat pommel"? Would coaxial pommel be accurate, to differentiate between disc pommels on medieval swords? You mention that the hilt design sword of enforces certain techniques. Could this also be true of "Viking" swords?

Yuss! New Schola, and about two of my favorite swords!

While this slightly off topic but could the increased interaction with these swords influenced the design of the 1821 light cavalry saber, as a means of countering these cut centric swords?

I think the pulwars encouraged wrist movement because the Afghans were taller like the westerners. Hence they had longer reach which again is related to the physique of the people.

Great video as always. Could you talk about dismounted knights in one of your future videos? Would love to hear something about this topic. I cant seem to find much Information about how knights would fight on foot in the early to high middle ages. Would they use their lance on foot?

Afghans warriors were more into cavalry formation warfare swift and agile used swords with wrist movements while riding a horse use large grip swords, as compared to Indian foot soldiers which were in large numbers and fought one on one use 90° arm with shoulder and body weight as source of thrust use that smaller grip swords.

very nice video please make video on sang and katar aswell

Hi Mr. Easton love your videos. I have a question. It seems that that once gunpowder’s widespread use influenced combat, most armor disappeared. Obviously the main reason is that guns can rip right through armor with ease. And armor is heavy, so why wear it at that point?. Those are the only reasons I can think of....surely there has to be more reasons as to why armor pretty much dissapeared. What are your thoughts? Is it that simple or are there more reasons?

Hey matt, what about showing us your weapons? Maybe telling a little bit of each one, like an overview of them

You mentioned a theory on whether fighting on horse or not could prompt the difference but rejects that for difference in swordsmanship. But aren't that potentially the same thing? If Afghan swordsmanship were more focused on fighting on horseback I could see why they'd prefer a grip that helps extend your reach. Of foot you can better compensate for the shorter reach of a hammergrip by your own footwork and upperbody movement. Not so much when mounted.

The biggest difference between the pommels on the two tulwars, to my eye, was that the second one is canted at a distinct angle, rather than being perpendicular to the grip. I spent some time wondering if it was designed that way, or if it got bent at some point in its history.

Kandahar of today was Gandhar of 8000+ years ago. All derived from the "Sapta Sindhu" civilization which spanned from today's Kandahar till today's Bangladesh.

Hi. I just have to say "Super Nice videos" I have nothing to do with swords in anny kind of way. (in rl @ least. on pc i love Mount & Blade for excample). But then i stumbled over ur vids.....and it realy interests me. THANK U for u to share ur amazing and profound knowedge in such a great way. (and thx for ur clear & understandable pronouncing) DAMN I NEED A SWORD ;)

You made a video about Pata ("gauntlet") swords a few years ago with hilts which completely encase the hand which also restricts wrist motion. As these swords also require strikes to be initiated from the elbow or shoulder, could they be evidence for your theory of a different style of fencing? If Tulwars with disc shaped pommels were commonly used in those parts of India where Pata were used this might lend support to this idea.

Countries separated from india- Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Bhutan, Malaysia, Singapore,Sri Lanka, Maldives, Vietnam, Iraq, Nepal, Myanmar,2 more

Hey Mat. What do you think of michaelcthulhu and his swords? I know they aren’t made the traditional way, but I don’t think that is possible anyways. A thin sword of 1,3 m is ok, but when it is 40 cm wide and 40 kg it is not worth the workload.

Please bring back the sound of Sword sliding on your intro. It really who really fits your Channel.

Could the topography/terrain have influenced the swordsmanship needs? (Fighting on hillsides may need more wrist involvement etc.)?

Bro Pommels were builded in sword because in Indian martial art kalari and sialmbam sward is used with full power of shoulder tricep biceps fore arm keeping wrist tight and fix which make attack huge powerfull but time taking pommel used to hold sword with accurate balance if no pommel then Now if someone attck by sword high probability that sward may loose from hand grip due to huge power attack Where as in europian sward they attack by using wrist flexibilty which have less power but less time taking so risk of loosing sward grip is negligible

If I had to choose between them in a combat situation, I would pick the .577-450 and a long bayonet. Good job Matt. I still love all my Bowies that you designed.

Hey Matt, would you mind taking some photos of your team holding various weapons perhaps in gambeson or neutral clothing? The purpose would be to provide references for artists who want to draw accurate images. I could see this as a profitable venture for your Scholagladiatoria group several different ways: 1. Offer a few free images, and pose for more detailed work at a fee. Every HEMA related You Tube channel complains about lack of historical accuracy, this would put something out to show what things should have looked like. 2. I imagine that you could probably even get a photographer willing to help out under a profit sharing plan and be able to produce a coffee table book of images. 3. You might even get a grant from the Royal Historical Society for the project if it was done in conjunction with a university or museum. Anyway, just a thought I have had for a while and decided to share.

Remember a wristy action is not completely precluded by a Talwar. If you are merely trying to slash at thin air, then you cannot have a wrist action. But if you are hitting something then a wristy action is possible. Try hitting an animal carcass. It will stop your wristy action from going too far and so the pommel won't bite into your wrist.

Matt, won´t you make some video on Polish/Hungarian saber and perhaps discuss some of Zablocki´s ideas?

If pulwar were used by people expecting to fight in the deep desert, the terrain might be the key. Sandy ground can really play havoc on your footwork, and as you can imagine, bad footing will adversely affect people that need to shift their weight in order to cut more than those can cut with the elbow/wrist alone.

i really don't get the ergonomics of disabling wrist action. are there actually circumstances where a stiff forearm grip would be advantageous? it's easier to believe they were designed for smaller paws.

The disc you trying to explain actually used to push opponent with very close combat when both opponent swards stuck each other swards hand guard,

is the domed pommel any better for thrusting (ie more control of the point)

Any tips on what to look for to weed out modern replicas when browsing for antique tulwars/pulwars?

I had no idea that Afghan Pulwar were a thing. They are my favorite swords design-wise now

Maybe the afghan pommel is about cavalry use in transoxiana

The Afegan design allows for more freedom on the wrist. That being said, they still did not made many wrist movements. The evidence I summon to support my point is the sword balance. As you said correctly they could extend more their wrists. But their pommels still don't offer much in terms of balance as you would find in European swords. Even though pulwars had heavier pommels and dome shaped, the balance is way too much forward for any European fight style. That is the kind of balance of a sword actuated by the arms mostly and in most movements made. "Wrist action" as we see in European styles requires a sword with a balance closer to the handle.

I would look to see if there was evidence of a change in the demographics or expected level of instruction among those equipped with swords. The idea being that if more men bearing swords were either coming from lower down the social ladder, or if more of those higher up were receiving less swordsmanship training as part of their upbringing, then the adoption of more restrictive pommels may have served as a way of compensating and providing training wheels, enforcing what was considered proper technique.

Can you make a video about falchions vs sabers (differences in usage)?

Hey what are the problems with jagged swords such as the belhaven blade from witcher3 ?

Could you do a review and explanation of the Khanda?

Was the flatter style around after the rounder one? I would rather use the round style if my life depended on it in a fight against someone with a flat style one. The wrist and hand can give more power in the percussive arts. I believe this to be the case if it was a person I was going to hit.

Would there be any advantage of using a stiff wrist/hammer grip like with the Tulwar?

How effective cutter was the Khanda compared to the later Tulwar ?

Would armor materials and their prevalence be connected to the hilt design and its prevalence?

How bad is the reach loss when keeping a stiff wrist?

Question from a military saber newbie: Why aren't there more (if any) steel trainer for earlier military saber (pattern 1796 for example)?

Can ypu do a segment on the portuguese carracks black sword(aka: crab sword)

Didn't buccaneers, swashbucklers, privateers, rogues, duelists etc. just modify their weapons and if they found a blade they liked put a new hilt, guard etc. on to it? (Not referring to standardised military weapons)

What are some historical texts about Indian swordfighting? I haven't found any

Please do a review on the movie trailer 'Outlaw King'.

Hey Matt, I have some questions about a saber I recently purchased. If it would be possible to email or something about it I would very much appreciate it. Thank you in advance.

Matt, do any of those have Wootz? What are the odds that a tulwar/pulwar blade is made with Wootz? Thanks

Can i know from were did u orderd this talwar

Can we have something on the gadda (indian mace) ? From the legends and architectural evidence, it seems that at one point it was a practical weapon.

Traditional Indian talwar were used only when really needed... Cuz the primary method of rajputs was cavalry.... So the talwar was for both cavalry and one on one..... But the talwar was reserved for desperate measures

Hey mate where can I buy a pukar sword ?? I'm in London

How long after 1745 did Highland sword and buckler survive in a British military context? Do you know of any Highland officers keeping their bucklers into the Anglo-Mysore or Napoleonic Wars?

Some ambient trance would have worked well with this video- some cafe Del Mar or some such..... just a thought

You buy antique swords, do you ever do appraisals? Alec Steel is making a new 9th century inspired Viking Sword, I wonder what your thoughts are on it.

matt, also check acehnese "peudeung". quite similar hilt

so, with blades, if you hold the blade at an angle, it is "effectively sharper", because the material you cut encounters pressure to move up a shallower angle of the blade,,,, perhaps the stiff wrist and the large pommel enforcing it,, are to help the user achieve a "sharper strike" with the sword. So, by swinging the sword at a declining angle, the actual strike has a "sharper" point of contact. ??

The straighter, more mobile sword would be better when armor was used, the more curved closer in fighting style from when no armor was used?

Maybe the pommels will have a different throwing technique when unscrewed... ;-)

Their is a sword called khanda which has the same grip and its pre mughal , unfortunately there isn’t a much of historical material about pre indo persian armor in india

Flat is justice

I just purchased a Pulwar and I find the pommel to be more similar the Tulwar than not. There is a bit more play for the wrist but I don't think it would make for radically different styles.

Where you get these Indian weapon can please tell me I also know about many weapons and also want to have weapons if you tell me I can promote your channel

My opinion is , in addition to its reach effect , Afghan people used the pommel to hit the opponent more often. So they decided to design more solid , robust and reliable pommel which served as a defensive measure while helping the user to hit with it as a blunt weapon. Besides the cultural differences between India and Afghanistan , i agree with you that hemi-spherical pommel has a functional purpose in addition to decoration. Thanks for another high-quality video! Cheers.

How much could it have to do with technology of the different cultures? The Afghan hilt seems that it would be much easier to cast than the Indian basket hilt.

Im pashtun and we have this kind of sword belongs from our elders its was in used till 1950s i asked same question from my grandfather about this design and he said this was used by horsemen to hold him tightly in hands and give better grips while chopping head in battlefield. This type of swords mostly leader of the tribe carries on riding horses. Our elders used this sword in many wars in afghan anglo war agains British also wars in India etc so its used by horsemen I'm war . Its name is tura not tulwa I will share pics of our swords .

on tulwar the hilt is also used as hitting instument but in the afghans one it may just because of coping a weapon and may be they didnt wanted to remove the feature may be they like it or may be just not to change the designee to much also the methods of sword fighting of tulwar is very different the sikhs one is different and the afghan one is different as it more influenced form north and west and less influenced from east

300th like. no dislikes :)

It could very well be that it also has some kind of religious connotations.

Which I know disk pomel help a swordsman to accurate draw cut and very cut which kill enemy instantly but semi only for slashing

What is superiour in fencing combat , slash or stab ? I maintain the stab is. It is faster and you do not open your cover what you of necessity have to do before you can apply a slash . Admittely , a slash, once driven home, kills faster

From what I could see in the video, the Pulwar hilt resembles the earlier Indian sword hilts, so maybe the Afghani were just conservative?

I wonder how much chakras and their alignment have to do with the overall core style ( literally CORE ) of sword methodology used by hindu ? Perhaps there is something to be said for why they preferred this over wrist actions ? Best regards

One theory could be that Indian swordsmanship doesn’t focus much on striking with the pommel, and the Afghan traditions could. Other than that I really don’t see what it could be other than one actually is more conducive to fighting on horseback rather on foot.

As an Pashtun I think Pulwar Can Be Easily used for Cavalry Attack.

South Indian Martial arts involve using the wrist. Also the swords are not as curved as the Talwar. Only a slight distal curve is seen. Also among Talwars, not all have the disc pommel. Many of them have a small ball shaped pommel and a thin wire like guard.

The Design is different because of the terrain . The Indian Talwar allowed The body to make the cut , whereas the afgans used to fight on uneven terrain . they coulld not use lots of movement they used to inflict the damage using quick wrist movement . Also they use to use their Sword to trap other sword , thats why the pommel is smooth as the force will dig the pommel deep into the wrist. . You will find Different pommel through out india subject to Terrain, and body structure . Pls dont confuse between Indian and Afgan swordplay. earlier Indian subcontinent started from Afganistan to burma and down south . Most of the sword play are same except for North east where the terrain is completely different . There is no separate style as such . The variation in styles is based on usage. War Sword were different , carrying swords were different , Seige Sword were different . with my limited knowledge There exist 180 kinds of sword with different name ans usage . Tulwar is very generic and its generalized . All the swords whic were exported were given a generic Name as the sword from Hind or India.

If u still have that sword Matt than try to look what kind of stones in their as some times they put precious stones in the hilt