Swords and Knives
of the Indian Subcontinent
including
Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Pakistan,
Sri Lanka, and the Maldives.

updated March 18, 2008

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Visit our Shopping Site pages and buy from us direct or visit our Books for Sale pages and buy research materials from one of our affiliates. Proceeds and commissions from these sales - in part - go towards the purchase of additional reference materials and acquisition expenses. You can also order this service online from our Identification Request Page or send a check or money order with your identification request or as a token of gratitude if this site has proven to be helpful to you. If you send a check or money order, please note on the document that it is intended for the "Research Fund".
Additionally, if there is anything that you would like to see on the following pages - in a weaponry identification sense - please feel free to request such and I will try to add additional information as soon as possible.
Please note - buying an item or sending funds does not guarantee a response. Due to overwhelming response to this website, I may not answer directly; I may simply post new material on the website in hope that a published response will answer your question(s).

  • If you E-mail or snail-mail any images to me for use in identification of an item, I reserve the right to use - without further contact - those images on my website, without compensation to you (other than my efforts to assist you, however minimal the result may actually be).
  • Please do not send single e-mail image files larger than 250kb, or no larger than 500kb total for multiple images; I will not open them.
  • Do not send images in compressed file format(s) such as ZIP extension files; once again, I will not open them.
  • Send image(s) in JPG/JPEG format only.

Research materials I have available are quite substantial; however, on some items, information within those materials might be quite sparse. If you choose to snail-mail images, please make sure you have copies or your originals retained for yourself. We do not return images in any format and they become the property of Arms to Armor - The History Store without compensation to you for any use - past, present, or future.


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The History Store
P.O. Box 160
Llano, Texas 78643

If you have a specific identification question, please see our Identification Request Page.

If you are wanting to buy antique or collectible swords, please visit our Online Store and view our Swords for Sale page.

You can also buy research materials from one of our affiliates at our Books for Sale pages.

Countries on the Continental Crust
Afghanistan Bangladesh Bhutan India Nepal Pakistan
Island Countries of the Continental Shelf
Sri Lanka (Ceylon)
Island Countries of the Oceanic Crust
Maldives

Below are the images of a number of swords commonly found on the Indian Subcontinent and surrounding areas. I hope this page is of service to you.
I offer advice on request; however, initially, the best advice I can offer to the novice collector is, "READ BOOKS."
There are a number of wonderful books available and below I have listed some of my holdings; I also occasionally have some of these titles for sale."
This region is very difficult to categorize at times; one cannot fully appreciate Indian (and related) swords without knowing their origins. The history is vast; therefore it becomes necessary to study many early-European, Middle-Eastern, Far Eastern, and Near-Eastern swords. Resultantly, some of these books are cross-sections of many different types of swords from many different regions.

KNOWLEDGE IS POWER!

List of Books:

Arms and Armour: Traditional Weapons of India
Indian and Oriental Arms and Armour
Warfare and Weaponry in South Asia 1000-1800 (Oxford in India Readings: Themes in Indian History)
Handbook of Arms and Armor European and Oriental Including the William H. Riggs Collection
Catalog of tribal Art, Antiquities, Oriental Art & Arms and Armor
Oriental arms & armour
Oriental armour (Arms and armour series)
Arms and armor: Oriental and European examples of the XV to XVIII centuries ... collection of Frank Gair Macomber ... sold by his order ... Anderson Galleries
A guide to Oriental daggers and swords

If you need further information, please request such on the Weapons Identification Service page.

If you are wanting to Buy Swords, please visit our Online Store and view our Swords for Sale page.

Afghanistan
Click Here for More Images - Sword Identification
Khyber Knives and Swords

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Bangladesh

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Bhutan
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Bhutanese Short Sword

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India
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Indian Khanda-Hilted and Tulwar-Hilted Firangi Swords

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Indian Tulwar Curved Sword

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Indian Pulouar Curved Sword

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Indian Khanda Yatagan Sword with Serrated Blade

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Indo-Persian Tulwar Yatagan Sword

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Nair Malabar "Temple" Sword

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Nair Malabar "Fighting" Sword

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Maratha Pata "Gauntlet" Sword

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Dao Sword of the Nagas of Assam

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Two-Handed Dao Sword of the Nagas of Assam

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Nepal
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Nepalese Kora Sword

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Nepalese Kukri or Ghurka Knife

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Pakistan
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Indo-Persian Tulwar Curved Sword

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Indo-Persian Tulwar Yatagan Sword

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Indo-Persian Karud Dagger

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Indo Persian Pesh-Kabz Dagger

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Sri Lanka (Ceylon)
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TJIKOREH Hunting Short Sword or Hanger

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Maldives
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Weapons Identification Service
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