Subject: silladar, bargir cavalryman

Culture: Maratha

Setting: Maratha confederacy, central India 17-18thc

Object: daggers = बिछवा bichwa 'scorpion', वाघनख bagh nakh 'tiger claw'

event photos <

* Curious House

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Higgins Armory Museum > Scimitars to Samurai: Arms and Armor around the World *

"Bagh nakh ('tiger claw'), 1700s-1800s Western India Steel" ...

* Royal Armouries Museum > Oriental Gallery

"Tiger's claw (bagh nakh) Indian, Mysore, 18th century The principal claim to fame of the bagh nakh is that it was one of the concealed weapons (the other was a bichwa) used by the Mahratta leader Sivaji to assassinate the Bijapur general Afzal Khan." ...

Royal Armouries Museum > Oriental Gallery *

"Tiger's claw (bagh nakh) Indian, Gwalior, 18th century

In 1662 during a truce in battle Shivaji embraced Afzul Khan and then ripped him with a bagh nakh concealed in his hand.

Shivaji then killed his opponent with a hidden dagger (a bichwa), and as a result won the battle." ...