Subject: cavalry
Culture: Tamil, Telugu
Setting: Nayaka kingdoms, southern India 16th-17thc
Object: bichwa dagger
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Royal Armouries Museum > Oriental Gallery *
"Dagger hilt (bichwa) South Indian, possibly Tanjore, 16th century
This early bichwa hilt is cast in brass, and retains a fragment of the corroded iron blade.
The pommel in modelled in [SIC] the form of the head of Garuda, the bird-like vehicle of the god Vishnu."
