page_title: Mughal weapons
section_title: Shields
hierarchical_section_title: Mughal weapons / Arms / Shields
caption_attribution_description: English: Exhibit in the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. This work is old enough so that it is in the public domain. Photography was permitted in the museum without restriction.
context_page_description: Mughal weapons significantly evolved during the ruling periods of Babur, Akbar, Aurangzeb and Tipu Sultan. During its conquests throughout the centuries, the military of the Mughal Empire used a variety of weapons including swords, bows and arrows, horses, camels, elephants, some of the world's largest cannons, muskets and flintlock blunderbusses.
context_section_description: A shield always accompanied a sword as part of the swordsman's equipment. Carried on the left arm, or when out of use, slung over the shoulder, shields were made of steel or hide and were generally from 17 to 24 inches (430 to 610 millimetres) in diameter. If made of steel they were often highly ornamented with patterns in gold damascening while hide shields bore silver or gold bosses, crescents, or stars. Some types of shields were made of sambar deer, buffalo, nilgau, elephant, or rhinoceros hide, the last being the most highly prized. Brahman soldiers wore shields made up of forty or fifty folds of silk painted with colors.
  Types of shields
  Chirwah and Tilwah— These shields were carried by the shamsherbaj, or gladiators, groups of whom always surrounded the Mughal general Akbar (1542–1605) on the march.
  Fencing Shields— Small circular shields of cane or bamboo sometimes called dal (pronounced dhaal) because their shape resembled a lentil. The quaint maru or singauta, was made from a pair of antelope horns tipped with steel and united at the butt-ends. Sainti were classed as parrying shields.
caption: Dhal (shield), North India, Mughal period, 17th century, steel, gold, silk, leather - Royal Ontario Museum - DSC04543
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