Research Paper
Ahom Acquisition of War Booty: A Study on Mughal Talwars in the Museums of Assam
Authors: Sauradeep Nath & Alok Tripathi
Year: 2024, Volume: 15, Page/Article: 83-96, DOI: https://doi.org/10.47509/AA.2024.v15i.04
Abstract
The Ahoms ruled over the Brahmaputra Valley between the 13th century CE and the 19th century CE. During this period, they used various types of swords. Some of these were forged by them, while others were collected as war booty during armed conflict. Talwar was one such sword that the Ahoms collected as war booty during the Ahom-Mughal conflict. However, apart from the name and its acquisition as war booty, there is no other information about it. Hence, to mitigate the knowledge gap, ten Talwar, preserved and displayed in the Assam State Museum in Guwahati, the District Museum in Tezpur, the District Museum in Mangaldoi, and the Ahom-Tai Museum in Sivasagar are documented, and their details furnished. Along with the descriptive study and analysis of Talwar, the paper also provides an overview of the Ahom-Mughal conflict to understand how and in what instances the Ahoms collected Mughal Talwar. Besides that, the issue of whether collected Talwar can be classified as Ahom weapons is also dealt with in the paper. This has helped to bridge the knowledge gap and enhance understanding of Ahom-edged weapons.