South Indian Arms and Armour from Stephen Lushington 

Location: Explorers & Collectors

Stephen Rumbold Lushington (1776 - 1868) was a patron and life member of Canterbury Philosophical and Literary Institution. He collected and donated many items to the Institution's museum. The Bengal Tiger, leopard, panther and other animals he gave have perished over the years, but cases of birds, and an important group of South Indian arms and armour, remain.

Items on display include:

• Steel arm guard (Dastana) from Madras, South India, nineteenth century. Fitted with English-style box-lock flintlock pistols and a triangular-shaped 'flick' bayonet.
• Steel guard of a gauntlet sword (Pata) from Thanjor or Mysore, South India, seventeenth century. Shaped in the form of an elephant being devoured by a brass 'makara'.
• Head of a steel mace from Mysore, South Indiam eighteenth century. A royal symbol of power made perhaps for Khrshnaraja Wodeyar I (1714 - 1732) and decorated with gold and silver flowers, the shaft housing a concealed knife.

Head of a steel mace from Mysore, South India, 18th century. A royal symbol of power made perhaps for Khrshnaraja Wodeyar (1714 - 1732) and decorated with gold and silver flowers, the shaft housing a concealed knife.