chilanum

M

MRichard

Joined
Aug 9, 1999
Messages
15
There was some talk a while back on this forum about khanjarlis. The ones pictured reminded me of Indian chilanums. The following link shows a 17th century northern Indian (Rajhastan?)chilanum. It is integrally forged out of good wootz. Just thought some of you might be interested in taking a look. http://home.att.net/~mastodon/chilanum25.jpg
 
Stone's _Glossary of Arms and Armor_ says of the chilanum, "they are used by the Mahrattas, but a very similar knife was used in Nepal."
 
I wonder why they made the pommel with that back-curved bar? Seems like it'd get in the way, digging into your wrist or hand. I suppose it would be best to hold it with an 'ice pick' grip, blade downwards, but even then that bar would still be sticking into your hand... There must be something I'm missing.
 
Ruel, I've seen in catalogs that the hilt helps concealment in sleeves.

I think the blade is good in a scapel or reverse grip, the extended pommel protecting the wrist.
 
I have a large number of books with artwork from ancient/medieval India. I'll keep an eye out for a Chilanum to see how it's held.

Often the best place to look is in the hands of Hindu gods with multiple arms (that is, both 'limb' arms and 'weapon' arms!). Often, they are walking arsenals, bristling with weapons, and many familiar blades can be seen, including the Khukuri.
 
The only way I can hold it is in the reverse grip. The projection opposite of the knuckle bow goes in the "v" between your thumb and the rest of your hand. It must have been made for someone with extremely small hands though. I can just barely squeeze my hand in there, but this is often the case with other indian weapons such as tulwars. None the less it is an extrodinary accomplishment in the art of smithing.
 
I have been pondering how a kora could have been used for days -- John explaining that the inside curve is razor sharp helped, thanks, John (might as well thank you here; I'm sure you'll read this thread.) I think I'm finally getting that worked out in my mind, with the help of some analogies to European polearms -- and now this??? Ackkkkkkkk!

I think it's designed for reverse grip. I'm going to be mulling at this one for a while, too, I think. I think there may have been a way to use that pommel for parrying, but I have to think about it some more.

It seems to me a shame that there so many impractical and ugly "fantasy knives" on the market when the desire for something unusual could be much better satisfied with the tremendous variety of real weapons.... The thing to remember when you're looking at these things is: however weird they may look there is a reason for it and some way that weird thing could be used -- and it worked! There are some old weapons that didn't work but they never became popular -- anything that you see a lot of surviving examples of worked, somehow ... sometimes it's not easy to figure out how, but there was some way of using that thing....

-Cougar Allen :{)
 
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