Katar

Origin

The katar is thought to have first appeared in 14th-century South India, especially around Tamil Nadu and Vijayanagara. It then spread across North India and reached its height under the Mughal Empire (1526 to 1857), and was especially prized in the warrior cultures of the Rajputs, the Marathas, and the Sikhs. On the Indian battlefield, where mail was common, this dagger that gathered the strength of the arm into a single point to pierce armor became a decisive weapon of close combat. In India it was originally called the jamdhar, a name commonly explained as the tooth of Yama, the god of death.

Features

• An H-shaped horizontal grip, the blade jutting forward from the fist
• A powerful straight thrust driven by the arm and body weight like a punch
• A blade ranging from about 30 to 90 cm
• A thickened, reinforced point made to punch through mail
• A split, or scissor, variant that opens into three prongs when the grip is squeezed
• A symbol of the Rajput and Sikh warrior and a weapon of Indian martial arts (gatka)

Stories

The power of the katar came from the thrust delivered as if throwing a punch. Because the blade lay in a straight line with the forearm, there was no need to bend the wrist: extending the arm straight drove the force of the shoulder and the body weight into the tip, piercing deep into the gaps of mail or into the torso. Against an unarmored foe a single thrust could deal a mortal wound. The two side bars wrapped the fist and wrist and gave a measure of protection, and some forms added a guard covering the back of the hand. In the Indian martial art of gatka it is handled as the central weapon of close techniques that rush in and thrust in quick succession.

Weakness

Specialized as it is for the thrust, the katar is very limited in defense. It is poor at cutting or parrying, and its short blade leaves it utterly outmatched against an enemy with a polearm or long sword who keeps his distance. Because the grip is held firmly in the fist, it is awkward to drop the weapon quickly or switch to another in an emergency. In the end it is a purely offensive dagger that shows its worth only in the close quarters after one has pressed inside the enemy's reach, and is weak in a fight of distance.

Cultural Significance

The katar was a symbol of rank and valor in India, especially in Rajput warrior culture. A katar richly adorned with gold and gems was a thing of prestige worn at court and an heirloom, and among the Rajput nobility hunting a tiger or lion with nothing but a single katar was regarded as a proof of courage. It also holds an important place in Sikh warrior culture and the martial traditions of North India. As the indigenous name jamdhar, the tooth of Yama the god of death, shows, the katar was a weapon that called to the Indian imagination both death and valor together.

In Popular Culture

The katar often appears as an exotic punch-dagger in games and works set in India or the East or featuring assassin-type characters. In RPGs that place the katar in a class of its own, such as Diablo and Ragnarok Online, it is frequently drawn as a close weapon capable of rapid repeated strikes. The scissor variant, whose blade opens when the grip is squeezed, is especially favored in fiction for its distinctive gimmick. Often, though, it is shown gripped as a matched pair in both hands, so the impression of a fast, exotic dagger is emphasized over its true, weighty purpose of piercing armor.

Trivia

• The katar is built so that the blade lies in a straight line with the forearm and is thrust as if throwing a punch, and many were made with a thickened, reinforced point to drive the arm and body weight into a single spot and pierce mail.
• Among the finer katars there was a split, or scissor, variant whose blade opened to either side into two or three prongs when the grip was squeezed hard, a feature more a display of the smith's craft than a matter of battlefield efficiency.
• The indigenous Indian name of the katar is jamdhar, commonly explained as the tooth of Yama the god of death, and the Rajput nobility would prove their valor by hunting a tiger with a single katar.