The talwar (), also spelled talwaar and tulwar, is a type of curved sword or sabre from the Indian subcontinent. Etymology and classification The word talwar originated from the Sanskrit word taravāri () which means "one-edged sword". It is the word for sword in several related languages, such as Hindustani (Hindi and Urdu), Nepali, Marathi, Gujarati, Punjabi, etc. and as () in Bengali. Like many swords from around the world with an etymology derived from a term meaning simply 'sword', the talwar has in scholarship, and in museum and collector usage, acquired a more specific meaning. Unfortunately, South Asian swords, while showing a rich diversity of forms, suffer from relatively poor dating (so developmental history is obscure) and a lack of precise nomenclature and classification. The typical talwar is a type of sabre, characterised by a curved blade (without the radical curve of some Persian swords), possessing an all-metal hilt with integral quillons and a disc-shaped pommel (sometimes called the 'Indo-Muslim hilt' or 'standard Indian hilt'). Talwars possessing only slightly curved blades can be called sirohi. However, many other variations exist. Swords with straight blades and the disc-pommel hilt are usually referred to as 'straight-bladed talwars' (though the word dhup is also used), those with the same hilt, but yatagan-type forward-curved blades are termed 'sosun patta'. Swords with sabre-blades and all metal Indo-Muslim hilts, but having the pommel in the shape of the head of an animal or bird, instead of the disc, are termed talwar, without being differentiated by name. History The talwar belongs to the same family of curved swords as the Persian shamshir, the Turkish kilij, Arabian saif and the Afghan pulwar, all such swords being originally derived from earlier curved swords developed in Turkic Central Asia. The talwar typically does not have as radical a curve as the shamshir and only a very small minority have the expanded, stepped, yelman typical of the kilij. The talwar has a distinctive, all-metal, Indo-Muslim hilt, developed in Medieval western India. The increasing influence in India of Turco-Afghan, and later Turco-Mongol, dynasties (employing Persian and Central Asian arms) in the Late Medieval and subsequent eras led to ever greater use of sabre-like, curved swords. By Mughal times, the talwar had become the most popular form of sword in the Subcontinent. The talwar was the product of the marriage of the curved blade derived from Turco-Mongol and Persian swords and the