Lead Adventure Forum
Miniatures Adventure => Colonial Adventures => Topic started by: OB on May 17, 2019, 11:00:40 AM
-
I'm currently painting up my second unit of Sikh Alkali. I know that they wore blue and yellow clothing and have lots of images of them so dressed. What I don't know is if they ever wore armour. The reason I ask is that I have a very nice figure in appropriate Indian armour who would look great holding their black flag and leading the unit. It occurred to me that as the Alkali were religiously devoted warriors there might be a prohibition on armour. Does anyone know?
Thanks in advance.
-
Yellow is a recent C20 colour addition. During the Sikh Wars and C19 indigo blue/black and white were commonplace. Akalis distained body armour as being too cumbersome and noisy, relying instead on a plethora of weapons. Chakkar of a variety of sizes worn on the wrists and forearms and around the neck and head served as additional defences.
http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O16836/painting-unknown/
-
Don't think there was any actual armour prohibition, but they certainly ordinarily didn't seem to wear any. A few online articles written by modern Sikhs claim iron breastplates and mail shirts were part of their garb in time of war, along with the more well known accoutrements. Unfortunately none of the few books I have on the subject mention armour at all. If they wore it I think you probably don't see it depicted very often simply because most of them couldn't afford it.
For what it's worth there is a Sikh fellow in the British West Midlands who claims to be the last one (though that is debatable). He teaches the "lost" Sikh martial arts, and has no problem at all wearing armour whenever the media show up to interview and photograph him. Take that with a pinch of salt though, as obviously he's not an authentic 19th Century Akali Nihang, he's some bloke from Wolverhampton. :)
There is this pic of a fellow called Akali Hanuman Singh, who was active at the time of the Sikh Wars. He was a Nihang, and one might suppose that the artwork depicts a mail shirt. But I'm really not super-confident in that...
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/39/163-170519113819.jpeg)
Hmm... May be clutching at straws a tad there. Oh well.
You know what, I'd use the figure. I think there is enough doubt either way. Certainly wouldn't bother me.
-
Thank you lads. That is helpful. I notice a splash of yellow on the leading Alkali in Sukhe's link. Embroidery or lace perhaps. The Indigo/Blue/Black colour scheme is worth knowing and I'll try it out.
That all makes sense Plynkes. Hanuman Singh looks as though he just might be wearing mirror armour or bits of it. They look like vambaces to me and that looks like a metal plate on his abdomen. It's a good image.
Anyhow, I'll use the figure.
Thank you both once again.
-
You know, I was so fixated trying to figure out what material the shirt was supposed to be that I didn't even notice his forearms. I agree, those sure look like vambraces of some sort.
-
Don't think there was any actual armour prohibition, but they certainly ordinarily didn't seem to wear any. A few online articles written by modern Sikhs claim iron breastplates and mail shirts were part of their garb in time of war, along with the more well known accoutrements. Unfortunately none of the few books I have on the subject mention armour at all. If they wore it I think you probably don't see it depicted very often simply because most of them couldn't afford it.
For what it's worth there is a Sikh fellow in the British West Midlands who claims to be the last one (though that is debatable). He teaches the "lost" Sikh martial arts, and has no problem at all wearing armour whenever the media show up to interview and photograph him. Take that with a pinch of salt though, as obviously he's not an authentic 19th Century Akali Nihang, he's some bloke from Wolverhampton. :)
By the way Nidar Singh IS the last exponent of that particular branch of 'shastar vidiya' and one of the very few active practitioners of the martial arts as practised by the Sikhs in warfare (as opposed to the more stylised 'gatka' performances that can widely seen today). This martial arts practice was proscribed and driven underground by the British Raj. It has only survived through a 'thin blue line' of Akali devotees apprenticing their skills largely in secret through to the present day.
Certainly Akali leaders wore armour on occasion and would attire themselves appropriately for whatever combat they were engaged in. The analogy with the Janissary corps is valid here. They routinely wore armour in close quarter fighting such as the Siege of St Elmo in Malta in 1565, but are more usually depicted in their distinctive 'dress' uniform.
-
My fumbled attempt at qualifying my words rose from a desire to remain neutral and avoid adopting a position on the gentleman, as I have no opinion about him one way or the other. Seems he has a few denigrators in the Sikh community, and I didn't want to come over like I was promoting him or anything, or set off some sort of row in the middle of OB's thread. Didn't mean it to sound like I was dismissing him either, but I think I probably did.
-
If I might ask a second question while we are on the subject of Alkalis. We know they carried a black flag do we have an image or description of it? I intend making one and I imagine it to be triangular like most of the Sikh flags I've seen. I was thinking plain back with fringed edges.
-
The Black Flag captured by Colour Sergeant Matthew Kirkland of the 80th Staffs Regt. at Ferozeshah is believed to be an Akali flag. It is about the same size as the other colours an 7' x 8' iscoceles triangle of indigo with 4-6" red borders with 3 narrow oblique orange/yellow stripes in the borders...
www.flickr.com/photos/belowred/3837134627
-
The Akalis were armed to the teeth, and armor was no exception. ;)
-
Thank you sukhe. That sounds a clear enough design. I can see it in my minds eye. Obviously the flag in the pic has faded with age. So, with the indigo dye a dark blue rather than black? The other Akali flags I've seen in prints were blue.
-
Don't get confused with the vibrant blue used by the Sikhs for religious reasons, which is also the color of clothing often worn by the Akali / Akalee (Immortals). The battle flag used by Akali during the Sikh Wars was 'black' in tone but probably did have some indigo dye in it to give it a slightly blue tone...slight. Take a look at the graphic in this thread to see Grant's depiction of an Akali flag captured by the Gurkhas to get an idea of what I mean. http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=116611.15
Speaking of flags, there were only THREE main types of flag used by Sikhs Army: the first, a standard King's color in red (two shown at Lichfield Cathedral); a black flag used by the Akali (one at Lichfield); and a special one for the 'Campu Francese' or French Legion troops, which was not a tricolor (as some have wrongly suggested) but rather a quadcolor French style flag. Aside from the latter, Sikh battle flags were triangular and had consistent motifs on them.
Now the Irregulars also carried flags but the research on these is still not complete...yes, even after all these years!
Hope this helps.
-
It does indeed. Thank you.
-
Thank you for posting the question and the excellent responses. It is helping with my army. Any information I can find I relish.
I starting collecting my Sikhs in Glasgow when Feudal castings released their. The project lapsed but over the past 4 years, with the release of the Black Hat figures, it has shot off and has done very well.
Many thanks again for the thread.
-
Thanks for the kind words.
It was the very same figures pictured in an advert in WI long ago that started my Sikh Wars adventure. The Steve Shaw Akali are still the best as far as I know. I've been tempted to add some Black Hat ones what do you think?
-
The Steve Shaw ones are very nice. The Black Hat fellows bulk them out fairly well. I haven't seen their mounted Akali, but as they were supposed to be dismounted I never got them.
I suppose I could have used them for a Command base with the Irregular general.
I am now looking to figure how I can give one of them a black flag.
I use them as a single or double base per Irregular Brigade. Not anything more than that. They tend to not do anything more than give a single bonus to the Brigade.
-
Yes the Lichfield 'Akali' flag is mostly black, but the indigo would originally have been a Navy blue. According to an old colour print of the Maidstone 'tricolore' captured by the 50th Queen's Own Regt. it is technically a quadricolour, a rectangle in blue white red and blue with the same block printed motifs as seen on the more familiar red triangular standards. The Gurkha Museum reconstruction flag is actually based on an unusual example taken at Gujarat. The original is somewhat similar to Mahdist flags with a design on one side only. It is held in the National Army Museum archives.
-
With all due respect sukhe_bator, your comments are inaccurate and misleading. The Akali flag was predominately black as I have stated previously ( http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=116611.15). It wasn't blue, not even a dark blue. It did probably have some indigo dye included but just a tone appearance.
As for the Fauj-i-Khas (French Legion) flag held by the Maidstone Museum, as part of my research work I have inspected the actual flag (which is in need of serious restoration) and the graphic depicting the three flags (two King's colors and the one French Legion flag) you refer to isn't very accurate, as there are a number of errors in it relating to the motifs and such.
As for your comments about the flag on display in the Gurkha Museum in Winchester and its relation to the NAM, this is another red herring that one I too originally fell for but have since discovered has no actual providence. As I stated earlier (see thread http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=116611.15) the flag in the Gurkha Sikh Wars exhibit is actually not related to the Sikh Wars, but is more of an Afghan style flag. I was originally informed through 'reliable sources' that the flag was a copy of one held by the NAM but I have since learned that this was just an error past down over time. Sorry but that is the reality of the situation.
I am still working on my Sikh Wars book projects - been in the works for 10 years on/off as free time permits. One aspect of this research work is the accurate portrayal of Sikh battle flags (not to be confused with Sikh religious flags, as some do). Hopefully I will convince Grahame at GMB - or someone else with equally good skills - to do some miniature recreations based on accurate flag info. I did try before with another company but despite providing them with accurate research and feedback, well, they messed it up badly and the flags they produced are just plain inaccurate. You have to have a good attention to detail to get something right.
-
I too have seen both the Lichfield and Maidstone examples in person. I never saw the Maidstone flag unpinned from its peculiar trapezoidal display case, but at least the folds have preserved much of the original colour otherwise bleached by time.
I'm sorry if my information is somewhat inaccurate. I've spent the past 20 years researching the artillery of the Sikhs and only peripherally putting together details on the standards and other military material relatede to the Sikh Wars. I'm glad others have taken on the detective work.
I'm pleased the mystery of the Winchester Gurkha Museum flag repro has been solved. I always thought the NAM examples sounded uncharacteristic of the other flags I was aware of. I never had opportunity to investigate myself, but the corpus of surviving examples from the Colstoun collection, Maidstone, Lichfield and those described and illustrated in the ILN reports points to the 3 main types you mention. Are you aware if the Sikh colour ex 31st Regt. at Clandon Park survived the disastrous fire?
-
I've spent the past 20 years researching the artillery of the Sikhs and only peripherally putting together details on the standards and other military material relatede to the Sikh Wars.
Is this Neil??? If so, IM me :D
I never saw the Maidstone flag unpinned from its peculiar trapezoidal display case, but at least the folds have preserved much of the original colour otherwise bleached by time.
I was able to get it out and examine it carefully. Due to copyright issues I can't share the photos on a forum like this but like I said working on an article about Sikh battle standards and will do then for the benefit of all. ;)
FYI, the best kept Sikh battle flags (aka the King's standard type) are held by the Toor Collection (in the UK), one in private hands (UK), and another as part of the Kapany Collection (US). Apparently there is also another well preserved one in India but I haven't yet tracked that one down or seen photos of it. I have tracked down almost all of those that came back to Britain following the wars. Most are in really bad shape, if not already destroyed. :'(
I'm pleased the mystery of the Winchester Gurkha Museum flag repro has been solved.
Don't feel bad about that one as I got fooled too...and if this is Neil, you helped ;D...but when I chased down all the references it became clear that this was not an accurate Sikh flag but rather an Afghan style standard. It definitely wasn't one of the few Sikh battle standards listed in the NAM catalog.
Are you aware if the Sikh colour ex 31st Regt. at Clandon Park survived the disastrous fire?
Now that still remains a mystery, as Surrey Regt says they loaned it to the NAM ages ago, and the NAM is adamant they don't have it in their collection, and that it went back to Surrey. In fact, the surviving Sikh battle flags held by the NAM are in tatters.
All interesting stuff.
-
Is this Neil??? If so, IM me :D
Yep c'est moi! Half the fun of this has been substantiating information that has proved to be Chinese whispers at best, or just plain wrong! I'm glad I helped in some small part. :D
-
lol lol lol lol lol
-
I have finished my unit of 15mm Akali. If you would like to see them there are some pics on my blog complete with armoured officer and black flag.
https://youdonotknowthenorth.blogspot.com
-
Very nice unit. The officer really comes up a treat.
I'm thinking I'd like to get one of him now for my fellows.
Thank you for sharing.
-
Thanks very much. He is a great little figure. At the moment he is not appearing on the QRF website. However if you email Geoff or Chad there and say it's the Ottoman Turk irregular infantry officer pack they may well be able to find it for you. Also if you sign up for their newsletter you will get a 10%discount.