This weapon belonged to James Grant Duff (1789- 1858), an officer of the East India Company who was appointed Resident (political agent) of the Satara State in 1818. The weapon is accompanied by a fitted case, made after Grant Duff returned to Scotland, that is inscribed: "The 'Wagnuck' of Sivajee With Which He Killed the Moghul General. This Relic was given to Mr. James Grant-Duff of Eden When he was Resident at Satara By the Prime Minister of the Peshwa of the Marathas". This refers to a famous moment during the complicated political upheavals of 17th-century India. During a protracted military engagement in 1659, the Maratha leader Shivaji and Afzal Khan, the commander of the opposing Bijapur army, arranged a truce in order to meet in a tented enclosure, virtually alone. Both came armed: Shivaji wore mail under his clothes and metal skull protection under his turban. He also held a metal ‘tiger claws’ weapon concealed in his hand. The two men fought, and Shivaji disembowelled his opponent. The last Peshwa (Prime Minister) of the Marathas, Baji Rao II, surrendered to the British in June 1818 after defeat in the Third Anglo-Maratha War and was banished to Bithoor near Kanpur. It is possible he also surrendered this weapon to Grant Duff. Whether it is that used by Shivaji nearly 160 years earlier is, however, impossible to verify.