Interview | Author Robert Elgood, a world authority on historic Indian firearms, speaks on matchlocks, Mughals and Mehrangarh

A Sindhi smoothbore matchlock gun.

You don’t have to be interested in guns or firearms to dip into Robert Elgood’s The Maharaja of Jodhpur’s Guns (Niyogi Books, Rs 4,500). It is, among others, studded with several etymological delights. Take ‘daru’, for instance.

Daru is the Persian word for both gunpowder and medicine, and gunpowder was once believed to have medicinal qualities. The earliest Arabic word for gunpowder is ‘dawa’, which means remedy. In the book’s glossary, Elgood notes: “Afghanistan and India took the term ‘daru’ from Persian but also adopted the word ‘barut’ or ‘barud’ for gunpowder…”

Elgood is one of the world’s foremost authorities on the historic arms of Hindu India and the Islamic World. A former Oriental arms expert at Sotheby’s, his previous books include Firearms of the Islamic World, and The Arms of Greece and Her Balkan Neighbours in the Ottoman Era.

His latest, commissioned by the Mehrangarh Museum Trust, is the first book to be written specifically on historic Indian firearms by an international arms expert, and, in between introducing you to the Rathores’ world class collection of matchlocks, sporting guns, revolvers and automatic pistols, it also tells the story of a technology transfer that shaped the world. Here, Elgood speaks to MoneyControl about Akbar’s affinity for guns, the Rajputs’ disdain towards them, and gorgeous jezails from Sindh.

The Sikhs and the Marathas, too, were 'martial races'. Did they, too, have impressive gun collections?

One of the primary duties of a ruler was to fight to defend his state and so they had large armouries. In Hindu India there is the concept of the ‘chakravartin’, the great king who demonstrated his favour with the gods by dominating the lesser neighbouring kings. Once the crops had been brought in and the ground was dry enough to march over, the arms were worshipped (shastra puja) as a part of Navaratri, and the kings went to war.

The contents of Shivaji’s extensive armoury is known. Ranjit Singh had a famous personal collection of jewelled arms that was shown to many of his European visitors who left accounts. The Mughal emperors gave arms as gifts to those who were loyal to them. Arms were a reflection of one’s importance and nearly every major power back in the day had an armoury that boasted of jewelled weapons.

Robert Elgood.

Who among the Mughal emperors took a keen interest in firearms?

The Mughals had a magnificent collection of jewelled arms. Unfortunately these were seized by the Persian invader Nadir Shah in 1739. Akbar recognised the potential of guns very early. He even sent his men to Goa to learn the art of making guns from European craftsmen. Akbar liked to work with his hands, and, according to the Ain-i-Akbari, he even invented a wheel turned by an ox that polished the bores of sixteen matchlock barrels in a very short time.

How did the mighty sultans of the Deccan do when it came to guns? 

The Deccani states took their culture in large part from Iran. The quizilbash tribal supporters of the Shah were steeped in the Asian horseman tradition, like the Rajputs. Horse warriors from China to Europe who trained for years to master the use of traditional weapons such as sword, bow and lance on a horse were understandably hostile to anything that negated their traditional skills.

After the battle of Chaldiran in 1514 when the Turkish Janissaries armed with matchlocks defeated the Iranian tribal cavalry, the whole of Asia took note and many people learnt a lesson. But guns blackened clothes, handsm and the face and no aristocrat wanted that, so they were often left in the hands of ill-trained mercenaries. This attitude changed in the mid-eighteenth century as Indian armies trained and led by the British and French fought for supremacy in India as part of European wars like the Seven Years War (1756-63).

One of the first Indians to see the importance of European firearms was the highly intelligent Haidar Ali of Mysore who hired French gunmakers and deserters from Pondicherry in the 1760s to teach his Indian craftsmen to make guns.

A Cased Colt Self-Loading Pistol; Calibre .45, gifted by Umaid Singh to his son Hanwant in 1943.

The Rajputs only adopted guns once they allied with the Mughals. What prompted their disdain towards them?

Rajput dharma. The Rajputs were taught that the use of the bow was part of Rajput dharma. Rajputs relied on the charans (court poets) to provide a code of behaviour based on historic precedent which was immensely conservative. The historian and East India company official James Tod wrote in 1830 of ‘the Rajput who still curses those vile guns which render of comparatively little value the lance of many a gallant soldier, and he still prefers falling with dignity from his steed to descending to an equality with his mercenary antagonist.’

Which region produced the best-looking guns/matchlocks in pre-independence India?

I think there are differences and it is hard to say whose are the most beautiful. Sindh produced beautiful guns with the most remarkable watered steel twist patterns. I think the Rajput guns are there with best made in north India.

Murali K Menon works on content strategy at HaymarketSAC.