A gold damascened steel Hilt inscribed with the name of Haydar 'Ali

Southern India, late 18th Century

Footnotes

Provenance:
Robin Wigington collection, the Arms and Armour Museum, Stratford-upon-Avon;
Private collection, acquired Sotheby's, The Tipu Sultan Sale, 25th May 2005, lot 5.

Published:
Wigington, Robin, "A Calligraphic Sword Hilt from the Armoury of Tipu Sultan", The Journal of the Arms and Armour Society, vol. XII, No. 5, March 1988.

Inscriptions:
Qur'an,Surat al-Saff (lxi), verse 13, twice, 'And [you will obtain] another [favour] that you love - victory from Allah and an imminent conquest; and give good tidings to the believers;
Surat Yusuf (xii), verse 64, twice, 'He said, "Should I entrust you with him except [under coercion] as I entrusted you with his brother before? But Allah is the best guardian, and He is the most merciful of the merciful"'; and verse 21, once, 'And the one from Egypt who bought him said to his wife, "Make his residence comfortable. Perhaps he will benefit us, or we will adopt him as a son". And thus, We established Joseph in the land that We might teach him the interpretation of events. And Allah is predominant over His affair, but most of the people do not know.'
Surat al-An'am (vi), verse 45, once, 'So the people that committed wrong were eliminated. And praise to Allah , Lord of the worlds'; Surat al-Baqara (ii), verse 286, once 'Allah does not charge a soul except [with that within] its capacity. It will have [the consequence of] what [good] it has gained, and it will bear [the consequence of] what [evil] it has earned. "Our Lord, do not impose blame upon us if we have forgotten or erred. Our Lord, and lay not upon us a burden like that which You laid upon those before us. Our Lord, and burden us not with that which we have no ability to bear. And pardon us; and forgive us; and have mercy upon us. You are our protector, so give us victory over the disbelieving people"'.
Surat Al Imran (iii), verse 161, once, 'It is not [attributable] to any prophet that he would act unfaithfully [in regard to war booty]. And whoever betrays, [taking unlawfully], will come with what he took on the Day of Resurrection. Then will every soul be [fully] compensated for what it earned, and they will not be wronged';
Surat al-Fath (xlviii), verse 1, once, 'Indeed, We have given you, [O Muhammad], a clear conquest';and verse 3, 'And [that] Allah may aid you with a mighty victory.'

Prayers:
Ya Haydar ya safdar ya nasir ya Muhammad, 'O Lion, O Breaker of Ranks, O Helper, O Muhammad';
Wa a'iff 'anna wa ighfir lana wa irhimna, 'Forgive us and absolve us and have mercy upon us';
Allahumma nassir min nasr din Muhammad wa ja'alna minhum, 'God aid those who help the faith of Muhammad and make us among them';
Allahumma ukhdhil min khudhl din Muhammad wa la taj'alna minhum, 'God abandon those who abandon the faith of Muhammad and make us not among them'.

Couplet:
Shod barq-e jan-e kafaran tigh-e zafar bonyad-e man/Sultan-e din Haydar bovad ruz-e fath bar emdad-e man, 'My sword of triumphant essence became the lightning for the souls of the faithless/ The Sultan of Faith Haydar would aid me on the day of victory'.

A hilt with 'Persian inscriptions' inlaid in gold, apparently containing some of the asma' al-husna' (the 99 Names of Allah) as well as tiger-stripes, is reported as 'probably worn by Tipu' (Egerton, Earl Wilbraham (Lord Egerton of Tatton), Indian and Oriental Arms and Armour, Mineola, 2002, p.123). It is very likely that such hilts were credited with apotropaic or protective qualities for the warrior, and the same can be said for the mixture of Qur'anic quotations and prayers which are found on the present hilt. As a Muslim ruling class, albeit of a predominantly Hindu kingdom, Tipu Sultan and his officers would have appreciated the symbolism of such inscriptions upon their weaponry. The hilt of the 'Bedchamber Sword' of Tipu Sultan bears the names of God as well as calling upon His powers (Dix, Noonan and Webb, The Baird Jewels and Archive, 19th September 2003, p.80). Also comparable are the inscriptions on the hilts, also considered to be part of Tipu's private collection, which are now in the Clive Collection, Powis Castle (Archer, Mildred, Rowell, Christopher and Skelton, Robert, eds., Treasures from India. The Clive Collection at Powis Castle, National Trust, 1987, cat. nos. 33-35). However, this hilt does not bear the distinctive tiger-mask decoration seen on other examples which are associated with him.