Katar
Ornamented Katar
Type	Dagger
Place of origin	India
Specifications
Blade type	Double-edged, straight bladed

A Katar (Devanāgarī: कटार), also known as a Bundi dagger, is a type of short punching sword that is native to the Indian Subcontinent and popular elsewhere for swift and quick attacks. It is notable for its horizontal hand grip, which results in the blade of the sword sitting above the user's knuckles. Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (625x800, 680 KB) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Katar Metadata This file contains additional information, probably added from the digital camera or scanner used to create... Bold text This article is about the weapon. ... A blade is the flat part of a tool or weapon that normally has a cutting edge and/or pointed end typically made of a metal, most recently, steel intentionally used to cut, stab, slice, throw, thrust, or strike an animate or inainimate object. ... () is an abugida script used to write, either along with other scripts, or exclusively, several Indian languages, including Sanskrit, Hindi, Marathi, Sindhi, Bihari, Bhili, Marwari, Konkani, Bhojpuri, languages from Nepal like Nepali, Tharu Nepal Bhasa and sometimes Kashmiri and Romani. ... Bold text This article is about the weapon. ... Swiss longsword, 15th or 16th century Look up Sword in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Map of South Asia (see note) This article deals with the geophysical region in Asia. ...

Typically, Katars were used in close range hand-to-hand combat, which is effective in armour piercing. The blade was often folded or corrugated for additional strength. Some knives have a mechanism responsible for making the blades split. This happens when the user pulls the hand grips together. In this variety of katar, two hand grips are used, so that the mechanism can be activated. This feature was often used to inflict a greater damage to the enemy, having the blades splitting inside of them and cleaving their insides. "Hooded katars" are katars with a shield extending over the back of the user's hand. Katars ceased to be in common use in the 19th century. This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Alternative meaning: Nineteenth Century (periodical) (18th century — 19th century — 20th century — more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 19th century was that century which lasted from 1801-1900 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar. ...

The Katar is one of the oldest and most characteristic of the Indian knife weapons. The peculiarity lies in the handle which is made up of two parallel bars connected by two, or more, cross pieces, one of which is at the end of the side bars and is fastened to the blade. The remainder forms the handle which is at right angle to the blade. The blades are always double-edged and are generally straight and with lengths from a few inches to about 3 feet. The blades of southern India are often made broad at the hilt and taper in straight lines to the point, and elaborately ribbed by grooves parallel to the edges. European blades of the 16th and 17th centuries were often used, especially by the Mahrattas and were always riveted to projections from the hilt.

Katars with native blades are often thickened at the point to strengthen them for use against mail and are often forged in one piece with the hilt. The blades are sometimes forked at the point, and katars with two, and even three blades occur. The Indian armorers occasionally made katars that were hollow and served as a sheath for smaller ones: or with three blades that folded together, appearing to be one, until the handle bars were pressed together, when they opened out. There is even a katar displayed at the City Palace Museum in Jaipur, with two single-shot pistols built into either side of the weapon. This is an innovative design, as it enables the user to immobilise at least two opponents even before having to use the blade. Many katars have guards for the back of the hand made with solid plates but many are elaborately pierced. Among the Mahrattas the gauntlet sword, called pata, was evolved from the katar. The Katar is a purely Indian weapon and is never found outside of India.

The katar is unique because to stab an opponent one has to punch instead of thrust, unlike when using a regular knife or dagger. This leads to much more acrobatic fighting styles. It is more like an extension of the fist than a dagger, and it seems more natural to attack and defend with a katar. Sometimes, a katar is also used as a main-gauche in dual blade fencing. When a katar with multiple blades is used, it is rather easy to catch any more traditional weapon (sword, staff) between them and get a hold. Katar wielder has an advantage in a narrow passage. An example of main-gauche use In sword fighting, the main-gauche (French for left hand; IPA: ) is a dagger used in the off-hand, mainly to assist in parrying incoming thrusts, while the dominant hand wields a rapier or similar longer weapon intended for one-handed use. ...

A longer bladed weapon similar to a katar is the pata. A similar style western weapon is the push dagger. Multibladed katar is sometimes called suwayah. A Pata or sword gauntlet is a bladed weapon from Northern India much like a short sword, except that the blade is integrated in a gauntlet. ... A Push dagger (alternately known as: punch dagger, punch knife, push knife, push dirk, or T-handled knife) is a short knife with a T handle designed to be grasped in the hand so that the blade protrudes from the front of ones fist, typically between the 2nd and...

Katar is also a basic term for any short bladed weapon with the same handle as the one in the picture above, although stabbing is its primary purpose, many blunt ended Katars have been made, some with no tip at all.

Appearances in Popular Culture

The Katar appears in numerous popular computer games including:

• The highly rated Soul Edge/Soul Calibur games, as the weapon of choice of the character Voldo;
• Diablo II: Lord of Destruction (another vastly successful game) as the preferred weapon of the Assassin class.
• In Ragnarok Online, this is an exclusive weapon to the Assassin class.
• The fictional character Edward Elric of Fullmetal Alchemist will occasionally transform his right arm into a katar-like blade.

Soul Edge ) is the first installment in the Soul series of fighting games developed and published by Namco. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... Voldo ) is a fictional character designed for the Soul Series of fighting games. ... Ragnarok Online (Korean: 라그나로크 온라인), often referred to as RO, is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game created by GRAVITY Co. ... “Full Metal” redirects here. ... Serialized in Monthly Shonen Gangan Original run February 2002 – still running No. ...

See also