Location: Punjab
Date: 19th century
Materials: Steel and gold
Measurements: 91 cm
Inv No: OA1445
The inner edge of this sword’s knuckle guard bears a gold inscription that reads ‘guru nanak sahai guru sadhu singh’ (May Guru Nanak protect Guru Sadhu Singh). This phrase was often inscribed on Sikh weapons more generally as ‘akal sahai’ or ‘may the Immortal One protect’. The inscription is written in Gurmukhi. Literally meaning ‘from the mouth of the Guru’, this script is used to write Punjabi and is contained in the Sikh holy texts.
Sadhu Singh Sodhi (d. 1861) was the head of an influential family who traced their lineage back to the fourth Sikh Guru, Guru Ram Das (1534– 1581). He enjoyed the generous patronage of Ranjit Singh, especially since he was believed to own the original manuscript of the Adi Granth (Sikh holy text). Ranjit Singh bestowed upon him several villages, but following the annexation of Punjab by the British East India Company in 1849, the Sodhi clan saw their land holdings significantly reduced.
A surviving painting of Sadhu Singh Sodhi shooting a tiger shows him wearing a talwar with green scabbard at his waist.