«In some respects it is the most ancient system of swordplay in the world»

B.Bramley
Cold Steel, and Indian Swordsmanship, 1899

«The European is far behind the Asiatic in the use of the sword»

Col. Lewis Hough
For Fortune and Glory, 1885

«Men, by sheer strength of arm, have often knocked down an opponent with their swords as they might have done with bludgeons or sticks; but a fair effective cut with our present weapons is in most cases an utter impossibility»

Capt. M.R. Laing Meason
English Dragoons, Temple Bar, 1865

«An effective thrust is much more easier learnt that drawing cut which makes the tulwar such a terribly effective weapon in the hand of the expert swordsman»

The Earl of Cardigan
The Cavalry of the Territorial Army, 1908

«The idea of teaching the sowars the sword exercise is silly; they are far better swordsmen than the regu-lars as it is»

Capt. Lewis Pelly
The Views and Opinions of Brigadier-General John Jacob, 1858

«We could name many who were almost cleft in two by the sharp, drawing sabre cut»

Light Cavalry in India, Bombay Quarterly Review, 1855

The study of Indian fighting skills presents a unique case, seemingly incomparable to most other martial traditions. This is primarily due to the folk, rather than aristocratic or familial, character of these practices. This folk character not only facilitated the spread of these traditions but also ensured their preservation during peacetime. One of the last large-scale conflicts involving cold weapons was the Sepoy Rebellion of 1857–1859 in North and Central India, which saw the participation of vast masses trained in traditional fighting methods. British journalism and memoirs from this period provide extensive coverage of the conflict, including detailed accounts of fights, duels, weapons, and their applications — an absolutely unique phenomenon in the world of martial arts. Collectively, these factors allow for the study of theoretical fighting techniques and the formation of a clear understanding of how they were applied in real mass armed conflicts. This minimizes speculation about the purposes of these techniques, their effectiveness, or any associated secrecy.

To understand Indian fencing, one must first abandon the 19th-century “white man’s burden” and the perception of Indians as uncivilized. While British fencing theorists dismissed Indian swordsmen as “jumping and aping baboons” with no understanding of thrusts, parries, or lunges, the British suffered more casualties from cold weapons in India than in any previous conflict. Even as British theorists championed the thrust as the pinnacle of fencing, their military in India hastily adopted cutting strikes. Indian armor easily withstood European strikes, which often lacked the force to cut through the turbans protecting warriors’ heads.

Accounts of duels where Indians employed parries or thrusts, along with descriptions of Indian fencing schools, challenge these biases. For instance, in Meerut, where the Sepoy Rebellion began, three fencing schools allowed Europeans to observe a variety of feints, strikes, and other fencing actions.

At the core of all Indian techniques lies the skill of wielding a staff, applied through specific footwork and body movements. This approach develops control of the hand through the twisting of the thigh, back, and shoulder muscles—what the British described as “the Indians strike a blow with the whole body.” The arm remains bent at the elbow, never fully straightening, while the hand grips the staff or saber handle completely, moving easily while transmitting force to the weapon. When applied to a saber, this technique produces a unique strike, which the British termed a “drawing cut” or “slicing cut.” To better understand this, consider the use of a weapon with a perpendicularly mounted handle, common in the region. The mechanics of such a strike are akin to slamming a fist onto a table, complemented by a reverse pulling motion if the table were absent. A properly trained hand can achieve a similar effect with a simple saber. With a perpendicular handle, the tightness of the grip depends on the natural position of the clenched fist and the weapon’s structural constraints. However, unlike such handles, a saber’s hilt requires additional training and reflex to maintain a firm grip. This is achieved through the unique design of the talwar hilt, which demands a certain firmness of hold.

It is necessary to dispel another myth regarding the “small hand size of Indians”. In reality, the inhabitants of Northern and Central India do not differ significantly in stature from Europeans. For instance, the museums of Rajasthan whose collections originate from former palace armories feature talwars with handles that are perfectly adequate and often quite large. Regarding the existence of genuinely small swords and their handles, one must consider the high degree of militarization among the population in these regions of India, as well as the involvement of women and children in military training.

For an untrained hand, practicing with a talwar may cause discomfort, including skin abrasion where it contacts the crossguard or hilt disc. However, these issues disappear once a correct grip is established. Beyond its primary function of securing the hand, the disc-shaped pommel provides additional support for the base of the fist, facilitating the reverse pulling motion.

Regarding the technique of using the talwar and the distinctive strikes it produces, the impressions of those injured by it offer valuable insight.

Since it is possible to strike heavily even with a stick, we will leave aside numerous descriptions of the Indian strikes’ power and will give descriptions of the damages after cutting strikes. Firstly, the British surgeons emphasized the lack of any compression signs. The cut was always clean, thin and without extra noticeable damages, while the wounds after the Europeans customary strikes contained compression signs, breaks and other injury always. The talwar strike cut off the limb completely, or cut to the bone at least. It happened often that the injured man even didn’t feel the pain caused by the damage immediately. One strike could cut off the head, both hands, the hand and the shoulder with a body part, both legs. Wherein this strike was made neither with a running, nor with an amplitude from side to side, but with a compact and collected action with a frequently described and unusual for the author movement of the wrist: «the Europeans could split the enemy’s skull in half with a powerful direct downing strike. The Indians, as a rule, achieve the same result by means of delicate cutting strike of the wrist with the use of ingenuity and mastership instead of brutal force».

The Indians handled their talwars with such ease that the British compared the action to wielding a whip. Their confidence in their weapons was boundless. Even when serving in the British army and armed with muskets and bayonets, they would discard the bayonet in close combat, snapping up the musket with their left hand (or throwing it like a spear) and drawing their talwars.

The technique and effects of these strikes influenced their tactical application. The primary method of the technique was to damage or even sever an opponent’s limbs. Against foot soldiers, the weapon hand and the forward leg were the primary targets. This latter tactic was so effective that experienced British soldiers would deliberately advance with their forward leg to provoke an attack. To this day, Indian martial arts teach targeting the forward leg. Against cavalry, Indians targeted not only the saber hand but also the hand holding the reins or the reins themselves.

The absence of obvious swings in their striking technique also enhanced their passive defense, as the warrior remained in a closed posture while striking. The reverse cutting phase of the movement returned the talwar to a ready position for active defense and subsequent strikes.

​Draw-cut techniques were not a secret to the British. The irregular cavalry incorporated into the British army, which formed the main striking force in the last Anglo-Indian War, consisted largely of fighters from Northwest India armed with talwars and employing these very techniques. Various methods and skills of traditional weapon use were also demonstrated in Indian fencing schools, which were more widespread in the second half of the 19th century than they later became. Some British soldiers, who did not consider the thrust the pinnacle of fencing and were willing to learn from the natives, became proficient in these techniques.

Naturally, such cutting techniques require an exceptionally sharp blade. The British frequently noted the remarkable sharpness of talwar blades: “the sabers were so sharp that flies were afraid to land on them”.

Unfortunately, detailed descriptions of teaching methods only emerged at the end of the 19th century, by which time traditional training had been largely supplanted by standardized drills. As one observer noted, “the strikes, taught in the Indian army now, are hardly different from the advices for the strikes with the axe”. The surviving practical advice included instructions like: “it is necessary to teach cutting on the feet, towards the definite objects”; “before there were a plenty of other things, used in practice, but the fencer was never allowed to cut in the air”.