- Sword of Dara Shokuh
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Sword of Dara Shokuh
- Object:
Sword
- Place of origin:
Lahore (possibly, made)
- Date:
1640-1641 (made)
- Materials and Techniques:
watered steel; gold; enamel; wood; velvet
- Credit Line:
Given by the Right Hon. the Earl Kitchener of Khartoum
- Museum number:
IS.214-1964
- Gallery location:
South Asia, Room 41, case 22 []
The very fine watered steel blade of this sword is inscribed on the back of the blade with a Persian inscription inlaid in gold stating that it belonged to the Mughal prince Dara Shokuh (1615-1659), the son and preferred successor of the emperor Shah Jahan (r. 1628-1658). The verses may be translated as: 'This sword (tigh) of the princed called Dara Shokuh/Takes care of a thousand enemies at one go'. When Shah Jahan fell ill in 1658, another son, Aurangzeb, usurped the throne, had Dara Shokuh killed during a fierce war of succession and declared himself emperor with the title 'Alamgir.
The blade is also inlaid on one side with a gold parasol signifying its royal ownership. The sword must have been made in a court workshop, perhaps in Lahore which was a traditional centre of weapons production. A date is stamped on one side of the blade near a forte. The third digit is indistinct, but is probably '5', making the date 1050 AH, or 1640-41. The scabbard and its enamelled gold mounts are almost certainly later, made in India probably in the 19th century.
