Romancing the rich, ancient weaponry of Jodhpur

The book celebrates the martial traditions, sports of hunting and equitation and the heritage showcased in the gun collection at the Mehrangarh Museum Trust at Jodhpur.

New Delhi: Robert Elgood holds a DPhil from Oxford in Indian Anthropology, is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries and of the Royal Society; he ran an antique picture gallery in Sussex and restored a 15th century villa and garden in Florence before he found his true calling in chronicling the world of ancient arms and ammunition.

“From childhood I was interested in history, particularly military history, and arms; and I loved books from an early age,” the multi-faceted Robert Elgood shared in an interview of his latest book, The Maharaja of Jodhpur’s Guns (Niyogi Books).

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“I was made librarian at my prep school and won a prize for writing poetry. Aged eighteen I told my family I would write. My grandfather wrote books on the history of Persian medicine and my great uncle wrote on Egyptian history. Books and writing was a family tradition.

Indian arms combines wonderfully rich history and anthropology, my subjects at SOAS (School of African and Oriental Studies University of London) and Oxford. I was born to write,” Elgood added.

This, in fact, is his second work on Rajput arms and armour. “I wrote an earlier two-volume book for the Maharaja of Jodhpur – Rajput Arms and Armour – beautifully published by Niyogi in 2017. The Maharaja wanted his guns included, but I told him I would write this as a separate volume as his collection was large and the subject had not been comprehensively covered before,” Elgood explained.

Considerable research went into the writing of the book. “Research work has been part of my life since before I studied Islam at the School of Oriental and African Studies in 1975-9. I took about four years to write the present book and this involved months spent in India every year.

It was a privilege to live in the fort at Jodhpur as I wrote my books for the Maharaja and he and his family were wonderfully hospitable. I had always wanted to work in India and I loved the people and the place.

During a dozen years of writing it became a home from home,” he added.The book celebrates the martial traditions, sports of hunting and equitation and the heritage showcased in the gun collection at the Mehrangarh Museum Trust at Jodhpur.

The initial chapters describe how gunpowder weapons came to India, possibly before the Europeans arrived while more than 350 unique images of guns and paintings depict the Rajput way of life.