Tir-i amaji
Jack asked me about a particularly heavy Indo-Persian arrow I had mentioned in a discussion and I thought it might interest some other archers.
The arrow is old and damaged through some hard use. It used to be painted where the feathers were glued and had small metal ferrules at the base of the tang to stop the reed splitting. The wooden nock insert is partly shattered, but the traces of the feathers are clear. There are cracks in the shaft through which you can see the black resin that is used to glue the arrow head in place. Some of the metal ferrules are gone. They were in the form of small rings.
The arrow was too heavy for me to measure accurately on my scale which only goes up to 1000 grains. Based on my kitchen scales, it is between 75-85 grams or 1160 to 1320 grains approximately.
The shaft wall is incredibly thin, under a millimetre where the cracks are. A single piece of wood has been tapered and inserted into one end and carved into a nock.
The total length of the shaft is 66 cm.
It could be safely drawn 64.5 cm.
It is balanced 19.5 cm from the tip.
The point is 8.5 cm long and the the ferrules used to cover the next 1 cm.
The tang is 30.5 cm long (measured with a magnet).
The shoulder between the tang and the head is only .7 mm.
At its widest 1.8 cm from the tip the arrow head is 8.5 mm wide and its narrowest near the tang is 7 mm, which is the same diameter as the shaft.
It originally had three feathers, 11.5 cm long and set 5 mm from the base of the slot of the nock. They were arrange with one in line with the bow string and the others at 120 degrees to it.
From the scraped surface of the shaft, the painted shaftment was 14.5 cm long.
The wooden insert for the nock was exposed for 6 cm. The slot of the nock was 5 mm deep.
As I mentioned elsewhere, these arrows were primarily used in qighaj shooting, where the target was on the ground near your horse's feet. It required split second timing to hit something that close when you were at full gallop. They are also mentioned as being used against helmets and shields. The strong points and long tangs were for robustness as well as strength on impact.
The arrow is old and damaged through some hard use. It used to be painted where the feathers were glued and had small metal ferrules at the base of the tang to stop the reed splitting. The wooden nock insert is partly shattered, but the traces of the feathers are clear. There are cracks in the shaft through which you can see the black resin that is used to glue the arrow head in place. Some of the metal ferrules are gone. They were in the form of small rings.
The arrow was too heavy for me to measure accurately on my scale which only goes up to 1000 grains. Based on my kitchen scales, it is between 75-85 grams or 1160 to 1320 grains approximately.
The shaft wall is incredibly thin, under a millimetre where the cracks are. A single piece of wood has been tapered and inserted into one end and carved into a nock.
The total length of the shaft is 66 cm.
It could be safely drawn 64.5 cm.
It is balanced 19.5 cm from the tip.
The point is 8.5 cm long and the the ferrules used to cover the next 1 cm.
The tang is 30.5 cm long (measured with a magnet).
The shoulder between the tang and the head is only .7 mm.
At its widest 1.8 cm from the tip the arrow head is 8.5 mm wide and its narrowest near the tang is 7 mm, which is the same diameter as the shaft.
It originally had three feathers, 11.5 cm long and set 5 mm from the base of the slot of the nock. They were arrange with one in line with the bow string and the others at 120 degrees to it.
From the scraped surface of the shaft, the painted shaftment was 14.5 cm long.
The wooden insert for the nock was exposed for 6 cm. The slot of the nock was 5 mm deep.
As I mentioned elsewhere, these arrows were primarily used in qighaj shooting, where the target was on the ground near your horse's feet. It required split second timing to hit something that close when you were at full gallop. They are also mentioned as being used against helmets and shields. The strong points and long tangs were for robustness as well as strength on impact.
Bede, I have two such arrows. My thinking is that these arrows would also be useful against war elephants. Just a guess. -j-
During the Choson dynasty here in Korea, they had an arrow called a yukryangjon that weighed about 224 grams. I'm not exactly sure what they were used for, but Korea has no elephants :)
T
T
Jack,
There is an anecdote about arrows being used against an elephant in southern Afghanistan. A marksman shot an arrow at the round metal plate guarding an elephant's forehead and shattered it. The elephant panicked, turned around and charged through its own army causing havoc.
People like Howard Hill shot elephants in Africa, but they used broad heads. An amaji arrow would in all probability just irritate the elephant.
The shape of an amaji head is really designed to punch through something hard. The head is widest just about 2 cm behind the tip and tapers after that to minimise drag after punching through armour. Incidentally, the point is faceted, but it isn't obvious in the photograph.
There is an anecdote about arrows being used against an elephant in southern Afghanistan. A marksman shot an arrow at the round metal plate guarding an elephant's forehead and shattered it. The elephant panicked, turned around and charged through its own army causing havoc.
People like Howard Hill shot elephants in Africa, but they used broad heads. An amaji arrow would in all probability just irritate the elephant.
The shape of an amaji head is really designed to punch through something hard. The head is widest just about 2 cm behind the tip and tapers after that to minimise drag after punching through armour. Incidentally, the point is faceted, but it isn't obvious in the photograph.
Bede; Is this the arrow with the extra long arrowhead tang? This would seem to be the arrow most likely to break when shot at a clost target. The whip would be fearsome. -j-
A single page in my file titled Islamic Quarterly, p. 82, illustrates this arrow as, "Arrowheads from Rajasthan and Hyderabad Deccan answering to some of the descriptions in the text. No. 9, Butt arrow amaj." Wish that I had the entire article. -j-
Jack,
This is the same arrow. As I mentioned above the tang is over 30 cm long.
I might have a copy of the article if it is the one on the Adab al-Harb.
I agree with you; I think the tang is partly to stop the shaft from shattering in the extreme conditions of its use.
This is the same arrow. As I mentioned above the tang is over 30 cm long.
I might have a copy of the article if it is the one on the Adab al-Harb.
I agree with you; I think the tang is partly to stop the shaft from shattering in the extreme conditions of its use.