India: National Museum - Arms and Armour

Ashbow · Post by **Ashbow** » Fri Jun 06, 2008 7:07 am

Really nice!

I think those short arrows are Navak?? arrows shot with some kind of arrow guide but I don't know how the guide looked like and how it was working.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Mon Jun 09, 2008 9:31 am

During the Mughal period such arrows were called nao and were shot through nawaka. Biharzi (1600-1663 A.D.) composed a book entitled satasi which contains couplets. It is said these couplets are satirical and piercing and penetrate so deep as if hit by such arrows shot from a nawaka.

The nawaka was a pipe or a kind of arrow-guide through which an arrow was shot. It was either a crossbow, or formed in some way a part of the ordinary bow. It was not a mere blow-pipe, like those used by the Malays for their poisoned arrows, as mentioned by Egerton.

The nawaka finds mention in the Ain-i-Akbari but there is no figure of it.

Reference: G.N. Pant, Indian Archer; Second Edition 1993, page 197-198

Reto

jack farrell · Post by **jack farrell** » Mon Jun 09, 2008 12:46 pm

Reto; I wonder about these darts in the photos. They appear to have been cut down from arrows, they lack lashings at the points, and they are mostly painted grey. I think this is an indication that they are not authentic but have been made for display purposes.

I harbor similar suspicions of those displayed in Pant's book for the same reasons. If the arrow guide is similar to those of Korea, it would be about half of a bamboo pole, cleared of the nodes in the channel, much sanded and lacquered. This arrow guide is about three feet long with a cord loop at the release end. It was stored in the quiver till used. -j-

Bede · Post by **Bede** » Mon Jun 09, 2008 10:54 pm

Some, but not all of the short arrows, are tir-i navak shot through the arrow guide call the navak. There are several in the Grayson collection and I have two of my own. Most are bound with sinew at the point, though that seems to be dependent on the fletcher. The ones in Reto's photographs look very similar.

However, some of the short arrows in his other pictures look like cut down normal arrows. I think they have lost their nocks and have been included in the displays for their heads.

Jack, the navak was similar to the one I had in Korea. They are not necessarily as enclosed as the Korean ones.

jack farrell · Post by **jack farrell** » Tue Jun 10, 2008 1:40 am

Bede; I did not get a good look at yours; was on sensory overload there. But have noted your skill at this technique. What good would a dart be without the head secured well? Seems like it would be dangerous to shoot this way. Mughal arrows are not painted grey. -j-

Bede · Post by **Bede** » Tue Jun 10, 2008 7:45 am

Jack,
I have two guesses about the way the heads are secured. In examining several of these darts in other collections, I noticed that the head and tang made up most of the mass of the arrow. The shaft and nock were only the method for allowing the bowstring to push them along the guide. Under those circumstances, the shaft was a throw-away item and its loose attachment prevented the dart from being shot back. My second guess is that the sinew wrapping came off and a museum person put them back together as best he could.

As for grey Mughal arrows, I wonder what their original colour was. All the ones I have seen are brighter colours than grey as you wrote. Maybe someone lacquered them to prevent damage and the lacquer deteriorated. On a second look, I think it might be the lighting. There are hints of colours there in some of the arrows.

Did you notice the all steel arrow in the centre of one of the displays? There is a description of them in the Indian literature, but I think they are made for show.

India: National Museum - Arms and Armour

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