Mughal weapons significantly evolved during the ruling periods of its various rulers. 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.
Arms Under the Mughals, the most important centers of production of military equipment were Delhi and Lahore.
Most cavalrymen mainly depended upon the short arms (kotah-yaraq) for close quarter combat. They are classified into five categories: swords and shields, maces, battle-axes, spears and daggers. Weapons used for long range attacks were the bow and arrow (Kaman & Tir), the matchlock (Banduq or Tufanq) and the pistols. Rockets were also used by the artillerymen (Topkanah).
Each man had to be supplied with his own weaponry, usually bringing spears, axes or single-edged swords. The great number of weapons that a man carried is graphically described by Fitzclarence, about an officer of his guards. He was a petty officer of the Nizam's service, who commended his escort:
Swords Swordbelts were generally broad and handsomely embroidered. On horseback they were worn on a belt hanging over the shoulder. Otherwise a man carried his sword by three straps hanging from a waist-belt.
Types of blades: Talwar was the principle blade of the Mughal infantry. By the 18th century it would later be carried by Sepoy. Shamsher - A curved weapon similar to a scimitar. Purely a cutting weapon due to its shape and the small size of the grip. Dhup - A straight sword. It was adopted from the Dakhin, this straight sword had a broad blade four feet long and a cross hilt. Considered an emblem of sovereignty and high dignity, it was displayed on state occasions carried in a velvet wrapping by a man who held it upright before his master. It also lay on the great man's pillow when he was seated at a darbar, a public transaction of business. This kind of sword was conferred as a distinction on successful soldiers, great nobles, and court favourites. It was made of steel. Khanda - A straight sword. It was apparently identical to the dhup. Sirohi sword - A scimitar. This sword had a slightly curved blade, shaped like a Damascus blade, slightly lighter and narrower than the ordinary talwar. They were made in Sirohi with Damascus steel. Pata - A narrow-bladed, straight rapier with a gauntlet hilt. Often used in performances. Gupti - A straight sword concealed in the sheath of a walking stick . The head or handle and a fakir's crutch was closely allied in appearance with the crutch of dagger length and the weapon appearing like a short crooked staff about three feet long. It was used by persons of rank as an emblem of humility. Zulfikar - It was a very vital sword in Mughal era, specially used by Mughal emperors (After emperor Aurangzeb) and generals in the battlefield to break the opponent fighter's sword or short dagger by its own divided blade during fighting and that made killing enemy easier on that weaponless situation. This sword was the personal sword of Mughal emperor Aurangzeb which was in service for first 10 years of his reign. But it was discontinued around 1670 as part of the emperor's austerity measures.
Shields
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 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 shamsherbaz, or gladiators, groups of whom always surrounded the Mughal emperor Akbar (15421605) 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.
Ceremonial Mace
The mace (gurj), a short-handled club with three large round balls at the end, usually formed part of the weaponry of any Mughul warrior of considerable rank. Another variety, the shashbur, or "lung-tearer", had a single round-shaped head while similar weapons included the dhara, gargaj and khandli phansi. The long dhara had a six-bladed head and octagonal steel shaft and came from Kolhapur. The garguz had eight-bladed heads and basket hilts or was seven-bladed with a basket hilt. Its length varied from . The khundli phansi was long and had a head of open scroll work. The flail was a weapon that may be classed as a mace, along with the pusht-khar, or "back-scratcher", made of steel in the shape of a hand. The khar-i-mahi, or "fish backbone", had steel spikes projecting from each side of a straight head. The weapon called the gujbag was the common elephant goad or ankus.
Battle-axe
If the head was pointed and had two cutting edges, the axe was called a zaghnol, or "crow's beak". A double headed axe with a broad blade on one side of the handle and a pointed one on the other was styled a tabar zaghnol. An axe with a longer handle, called tarangalah, was also used. The shafts of the tabar ranged from in length with a head from one way and the other. Some heads were crescent shaped with one of the shafts hollow for storage of a dagger. A 'Basolah' looked like a chisel while highly ornamented silver axes were carried by attendants for display in the audience hall.
Spears
There were several varieties of this class of weapon. Cavalry troops generally used a lance with other types of spears used by foot soldiers and guards surrounding the emperor's audience hall. There is also some evidence, particularly among the Marathas, for the use of a javelin or short spear, which was thrown. Nezah - A cavalry lance with a small steel head and a long bamboo shaft carried by nezah-bazan (lance-wielders). In normal use, a man on horseback held his spear above his head at the full length of his arm. Made up of Bamboo and steel Barchhah - a Mughal weapon also used by the Marathas. With a head and shaft made wholly of iron or steel, use of this heavy spear was confined to infantry as it would prove too heavy for men on horseback. Sang - Made up entirely of iron, this spear was much shorter than the barchhah although some exist that are long, of which the head accounting for . The weapon possessed long, slender, three or four-sided heads, steel shafts, and had a grip covered with velvet. Sainthi - The shaft was shorter than that of the sang. Selarah - A spear with a head and shaft longer than those of the sainthi but not so long as those of the sang. Ballam - A spear, pike, or lance with barbed heads and wooden shafts and a total length of , of which the blade took up . The Ballam was a short spear with a broad head used by infantry. || Infantry Pandi-ballam - A hog-spear with an iron leaf-shaped blade at the end of a bamboo shaft with a total length of , of which the blade accounted for . Panjmukh - Five-headed spear used by the people of Gujarat. Lange - A Mughal lance with a four-cornered iron head and a hollow shaft. Garhiya - May be pike, javelin or spear Alam - A spear (properly a standard or banner) Kont - One type of spear Gandasa - A kind of bill-hook or pole-axe with a steel chopper attached to a long pole. Used by the chaukidar or village watchmen
Daggers and knives
These were of various shapes and kinds, each with a separate name (a dagger would also indicate the ethnicity of the warrior). Katara or Katari - A lightweight push dagger similar to a poignard and peculiar to India. Made with a hilt whose two branches extended along the arm so as to protect the hand and part of the arm, this weapon had a thick blade with two cutting edges having a breadth of at the hilt and a solid point wide. The blade could not be bent and was so stiff that nothing but a cuirass could stop it. A katara's total length extended to , one half of this being the blade. The hilt had a cross-bar at right angles to the blade, by which the weapon was grasped such that it could only be used for a forward thrust. Some were slightly curved whilst others resembled a fork or were two-bladed. Blades were of various patterns with a length that varied from . Jamadhar - This had the same handle as a katara but with a broad and straight blade, while the katara blade could be either straight or curved. The jamadhar katari - Had a straight blade and a handle held in the same way as a table-knife or sword. Khanjar - A poignard type dagger with a hilt like a sword of which most had doubly curved blades and were about long. The weapon originated among the Turks, who carried it upright and on the right side, but it was occasionally worn by both Persians and Indians, the latter wearing it inclined on the left side. They were four types: jamhak, jhambwah, bank, and narsingh moth. All four of these weapons appear to be of the same class as the khanjar, although they varied slightly in form. Mainly used by Turks, occasionally by both Persians and Indians Bichuwa and Khapwah. Literally "scorpion", this type of knife had a wavy blade while the khapwah was also a type of dagger. It was almost identical with the jambwahand used by mainly Marathas. Peshkaj - A pointed Persian dagger generally with a thick straight back to the blade and a straight handle without a guard, though at times the blade was curved, or even double-curved. Some of the hilts had guards. Karud is Introduced by Afghans, this resembled a butcher's knife and was kept in a sheath. Karuds had a total length of with a blade . The gupti-karud was inserted into a stick while the qamchi-karud was a whip-shaped knife. The chaqu was a clasp-knife. It is a combat knife used by Panjabis. Sailabah-i-Qalmaqi - The name for a knife used by men from Kashghar. As long as a sword and with a handle made of fish-bone called sher-mahi (lion-fish), it was worn slung from an ashob or shoulder belt.This Combat Knife is Used by the men from Kashghar.
Missiles Bows and arrows, matchlocks, pistols and cannons made up the four categories of missile weapons. Cavalry were mainly equipped with the bow with Mughal horsemen noted for their archery. Legend told that the bow and arrow were brought down straight from Heaven and given to Adam by the archangel Gabriel. Personal weapons were ranked in the following order: the dagger, the sword, the spear and the soldier's with the top weapon the bow and arrow.
Despite the spread of firearms, use of the bow persisted throughout the 18th century due to its superior build quality and ease of handling. Bows were widely used by the rebels during the Indian rebellion of 1857.
The matchlock, a cumbrous and no doubt ineffective weapon, was left mainly to the infantry while pistols seem to have been rare.
Mughal field artillery, although expensive, proved an effective tool against hostile war elephants and its use led to several decisive victories. After Babur's artillery defeated the armies of Ibrahim Lodi in the 16th century, subsequent Mughal emperors considered field artillery the most important and prestigious type of weapon.
Rocket
Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan are given credit for the creation of the rocket. However it is very possible that the idea originated in Mughal era India.
Bows
Considered especially expert in the use of their weapons, Mughal horsemen armed with bows could shoot three times faster than musketeers.