The Fearsome Indian Knife (Katar) that dominated Indian Warfare 

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It likely originated in the Vijayanagara empire in South India. Kalaripayattu practitioners still train with a form of Katar.

I'm a former massage therapist and I've always wanted to make a massage tool based on a katar. That handle design type would do wonders I feel 🤔

My mother (Brahmin of Karnataka - formerly Mysore - line of South india) taught me martial arts as a kid, which I confused with being a "dumb dance" routine and largely ignored through most of my life until I learned Shaolin Gongfu from my ex-g/f's brother (who is an ordained Shaolin Fighting Monk, was featured on an old Discovery Channel documentary on the Shaolin Temple). There is a specific type of fist in which the thumb is placed between the index and middle finger and held by the ring and pinky fingers. Its usage as my mother would show me as a child, is very reminiscent of how a Katar would be used to strike vital points (marmas). That being said, I've a greater appreciation in the more recent phase of my life (my 30's - 40's) for what my mother taught me and as a spoiled 'murican, ignored, thinking it was an inferior discipline in comparison to things like Boxing, Wrestling, Muay Thai/Lethwei, etc. My first ever "love at first sight" encounters as a child was cutting my finger on an exceptionally sharp Talwar we had hanging on our living room wall. I was so small that I had to use a kiddy stool to climb atop a chair, before climbing atop the frame of the chair to reach the sword. Did I ever get a scolding (and a beating!) over my misadventure! :D It was a truly beautiful sword, a green velvet-like fabric covered the scabbard, ornate carving on the hilt and the knubby-looking guard (? It did not have a proper guard but a knob-like bit before the blade extruded), and small inlaid gems on parts of the scabbard upon gold/brass ornamental decorations. Felt a bit like the ol' Arthurian tales of a young Arthur coming upon the Sword in the Stone. That feeling of awe has always stuck by me 42 years later!

I must confess, the game *Diablo II* is what helped me discover the katar through the Assassin character; and I've been fascinated with the weapon ever since.

So was at my mother in law last week. My nephew, brother in law son, was playing with Ninja Turtle toys from 1990. I totally forgot the toys came with a bunch of extra "weapons" like throwing stars. My nephew held up one and asked me what it was. It was a Katar. I was like "OMG that's where i saw them" cause i always thought rhey were awesome and knew they were familiar. So basically i liked these for over 30 years

For some reason every time Matt shows a blade of any kind, I want to cut vegetables with it. I guess it’s because what I relate too, but in my mind when I see the katar I’m like “that’s a horrible way to cut carrots.”

From what I've stumbled upon for Katar trivia... Is that they were used in tiger hunting. And as nobles came across armored foes in war, they brought their daggers with them and found them useful against armored men. Whether or not a reinforced tip came before or after... I'd wager after. But then again, a tiger's neck is pretty thick. Manuscript illustrations showing tiger hunting with one often showed the user also getting chewed on in a bloody fashion, or others also equipped with a katar helping to finish the wounded beast being grappled.

Eventually I'll have to get one of your antique swords. Next time I'm in England, you'll have to show me your trade.

Windlass made some at one point and I managed to get my hands on some years ago (but years after MRL was no longer carrying them) by writing them to ask if they could look around for any. In experimenting with them I found that any deviation of the wrist on impact with firm targets could cause the ends of the supporting bars to dig into my forearm, and so either deliberately holding them away from the arm or being mindful to keep a locked wrist was necessary. The mentions I found of binding them to the arm were likely for preventing this sort of issue, and I rather suspect that they would have been selected carefully to fit the user rather than one-size-fits-all. The two I received were of different sizes, with one being a bit larger than the other, and the smaller one being a very good fit for my hand/arm, and it was easier to prevent from digging during impact as a result.

Don't know if you'll read this, but the whole scissoring action of some of the katar combined with poison has always fascinated me, from a mechanical perspective, it might just be genius ngl. Considering how the mechanism works, it would make the most sense if it activates post puncture, when wrenching the blade out, pressure on the handle would cause the blades to open, deepening the wound channel and allowing the poison to interact with the blood stream, actually quite ingenious, if anything.

Having done a bit of martial arts I know that getting a clean hit on an uncooperative and moving target is easier said than done. A less than perfectly aligned strike, with force, into something resistant like mail or a padded jacket, would produce immense turning moment on the two little hand bars which seem to have been standard. It's hard to imagine it wouldn't turn violently in the hand, however tight your grip...but they were made and carried for decades, so they must have worked. Matt mentioned in passing that the side bars assisted in stability, but they're not in the axis of the grip/rotation with a whole hand grip on the handle, so it's "less than clear" how. Some more explanation, demonstration of the mechanics would be very useful.

I was looking forward to this overview for a long time !

I think I prefer a sword if I get the choice. But you cannot always carry a sword.

You should make a part 2 discussing the scissor like Katars.

There is a Sikh sword fencing instructor whose first name is Sanatan and he said in a video that the Katar was designed to allow the user to strongly hold the shaft of a spear and the dagger. Otherwise the blade of the dagger sits along the shaft of the spear. If an opponent passes the spear point the katar is there in hand ready to stab them. You have polearms, perhaps you would be so kind as to investigate this claim. Much love from USA.

I met some SCA practitioners who said that katars were one of the weapon types banned on their field. Even a wooden dowel padded version could cause serious injury. Not to mention that one fellow with two katars beat several longswords...

If I had to wake up in the middle of the night and defend myself. I would want a push dagger. They are faster.

its a perfect off hand weapon due to off hand typically being more clumsy, its harder to get real force behind a left hand typical dagger without rolling your wrist. You can get amazing force with a left jab or hook with a punch, main hand typically a sword at least in India.

What I find fascinating is how unique they are. Usually a Design stops being used if it is inferior, or it will get copied/there are similar inventions in other places if it is successful.

Definitely goes waaay back.there are sculptures from 3rd/4th century with Katars, and im oretty you'd find older ones

Mate you're 6'1 if something doesn't fit it start being your fault 😅😂

Very informative, as always!

11:00 Why does he have two swords? I mean I get the more the better, but what's the context of this pic? Also Matt have you seen the pics and videos of the Feldlager 2023 at Brandenburg castle? IronCrown Workshop and Esther Kok as some great videos on it. Would love to see your reaction.

Great Video Matt.

I am curious about the katar's ability to cut/slash. There are design elements - such as the reinforcing bars, and the fact that it isn't just a round/square spike - that would lend themselves to slashing strikes. How well-documented is that use of a katar? Were cuts just used incidentally, if it fit the situation, or were they used as much as stabs/punches?

I've owned a few over the years and like you said, the hooded variety are earlier, eg deccan.. Nice examples btw.

Very interesting: Rondel dagger - with slender blade - held icepick / handshake grip. The katar with a wide somewhat triangular blade held perpendicular to the blade, thereby having more power to punch with a wider blade. Probably the katar makes bigger wounds, while having some issues with full plate armor. Seems the difference between the two is a factor of different types of armor to defeat - apart from the stylistic choice of course.

Cant beat those bio mechanics.

just imagine some mfs running around punching peoples in your lines and they dying - scary weapon

Was it used in dual welding with sword?

As a tradition, during the wedding ceremony, groom carries this katar also called as Bãku in our region (karnataka). To defend from bandits or invaders during wedding procession.

Great video as ever thank you for all the wonderful stuff over the years.

You are wrong about hand size they make it small because of there fighting style note for small hand

Could they have been used with a shield in a similar manner to the dirk can be used in the highland fighting style? Youd have the advantage of a better angle of attack?

I wonder if people used to jab with them primarily and if they preferred orthodox or southpaw stance

The choice of weapon for the Diablo2 Assasin!

Thanks for this very instructive presentations. I have two questions: 1. The way the blade is attached to the handle looks rather frail, compared to an usual dagger, which has a "filet" going through the handle. Do you know how solid it actually was in combat? 2. How is the katar related to the kriss, which too is used like a punch-dagger but with a "pistol" grip?

Is the criteria for "antique" just anything that is greater than 100 years old, or does it have to be certified or sold by some authority in antiques?

I think first time I have learned about Katar was in Final Fantasy 8, one of side character was using a pair. It looked so cool to young me!

What about the scissor bladed katar? I've seen several in museums that have an inner blade "clamshelled" into a pair of hinged outer blades, with a mechanism that when the two bars of the grip are compressed, the outer blades open, revealing the inner..presenting 3 points to an opponent! But you don't mention this variation. Is that another video?

Matt what are the chances of having windlass make some katars not enough modern onrs around

I would have thought you'd touch on Katar with multiple blades. I didn't know if this was mostly deployed as a defensive parrying dagger or for offence.

Nice information sir

There was one in the old jungle book the movie that when you squeeze the handle it would open into three blades have you seen that before or is that just a movie prop?

Love the mention of Willow

Are there any manuals on using the "guard" between the top of the bars and the base of the blade to parry a swing or thrust? Also if Indian swordfighters were "weak against the thrust", how did they handle their fellows using Katars?

I now live in Virginia but until I was 65 I lived in New Jersey. The basic idea on knives was that those that are mainly tools are legal but ones that are mainly weapons are not legal to carry. Thus a 3 inch folder is legal even is assisted opening. Whereas push daggers are considered only weapons.

I wonder if gauntlets of the period had loops that corresponded to those two steel bars, such that the dagger wouldn't turn in the fist when impacting resistance...🤔

Indian people don't have smsll hands. We probably just don't know how to properly hold it

Can it be combined with a shield?

That looks like a good weapon and cooking utensil.

One of my fave weapons. Good to find all this out.

Always informative and generous with your knowledge, thank you! Fascinating

Do these co-exist with the Pesh-Kabz time-wise? Sorry, bad spelling. Seems like they might fill a similar anti-armor or anti-thick-clothing role.

"what is thi?" a top tier indian weapon

I can imagine having a wristband or bracelet with tube shaped fittings where the bars protruding back fit in, not having bindings or something around your hand to fix the bars sort of, in that way making it easy to take the knife from your sheath or pocket whatever and secure it quickly and effectively to use for punching , cutting, parrying etcetera. The fighter shown at 11 minutes has braceletsm that could also do that securing.

Information is worng. It didn't originate in 15th Century. It is much earlier even from Gupta and Maurya period which is probably 4000 to 5000 years earlier. PeshKabz might've originated around 15th Century or somewhere around that time .

My dad's friend showed me some of these when i was young now i know there name. 😺🤙🍻

It would be fun if Matt could have brief look at the depictions of characters of various cultures in Crusader Kings 3.

Do Katar blades have a cutting edge?

_these punch daggers are very useful in self dense while dog attacks!_

Really interesting video!

Sorry if this is an ignorant question, but how does the top and bottom bar prevent the weapon from twisting laterally?

I've been looking for a katar to add to my collection. Preferably a modern one. Here in Texas most weapons are legal

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Do you think one could make a functional weapon with a curved (sword) blade on a handle like a katar?

An accoustic! Nice to see someone playing a steel katar these days.

hey Matt, have you ever come across an urumi?

I've always loved Indian history and martial arts, kalaripayattu's supposed to be the oldest known martial art and so many others since have been inspired by it 🙂 I'd really like to spar with a katar it's a great mix of defence and offence despite its lack of reach and the way it locks your wrist. Can we see you sparring with it please Matt? I remember you saying one of your club's instructors went for Jujutsu as well I'd like to see how they'd handle it 🙂

Yeah these are going on my forge list

9:01 Yeah... Tulwars... You're the reason why I now own five of them. And a few hilts. Why I learned to make pipal tree based "cutler's pitch". I learned it from watching you alright!

Could katars for use have the extending bars wrapped around the arm with cloth to stabilize it in the hand or can the bars slide under chain mail sleeves to aid stability?

They have a reenforced tip for piercing. How sre they at cutting and slashing?

It seems to me that mounting long blades on katar hilts sounds like you'd end up with an unbalanced, difficult to handle weapon, have you had the chance to hold one? Do you know if they were also worn and used as "daggers", or more like swords?

Two guys dueling with katars would get brutal really fast.

Thanks for the interesting video. Now I know a bit more about the katar. I also have a few more questions about the katar design now that weren't addressed here. Why is the point where most of these blades are attached to the handle curved back towards the hand? Especially with the types that have a point sticking out towards the hand, this seems like a danger to the user. Why are many of these blades very broad and very tapered? In an age of heavy armor, wouldn't this be a disadvantage? The very broad blade seems (to a lay person like me) to be similar to the blade of a cinquedea. Are these blade designs related by any chance?

14:48 True...I mean imagine having to fight for your life against people with sharp / piercing objects (onde handed sword for example) using one of those weapons! you dont really aim for anything you just go berserk like Wolverine.

Hope you recover soon from whatever cold or such you are suffering from.😷 Have been looking forward to this video for some time as I knew you would get around to them eventually ☺️

While I doubt it was ever used historically, many years ago I had a nice reproduction of a katar where I jerry-rigged a way to have it easily accessible but get most of the benefits of being "bound" to the arm: a leather vambrace with added loops that naturally slipped over the langets as you put your hand into the grip. Worked great, regardless of historicity. But I'd be absolutely tickled to hear of anything similar in actual historical use, if anyone knows of a record of it.

I still don't understand how the two 'wrist bars' prevent the flat of the blade from being flat-twisted away from the line. I see the two grip bars helping - as they are effectively a flat handle parallel to the blade - but it still seems possible to deflect the blade from the thumb-line. Pleas note: without illustrating what I mean, I'm struggling to describe it. 🙂

YES! I have been waiting for this one for a long time.

You can punch someone in head and right into into the brain quite easily compared to a normal knife, the short T handle is also easy to conceal on modern punch daggers.

I have seen a fair number of katars. I have seen few if any where the cross pieces were held in place by separate rivets. More often the cross pieces end in square tenons which fit through square mortises in the sides. Or the holes and tenons were round, but (possibly countersunk and) peened over. One of the strangest examples, and one which I own, is a katar hilted pata like the one you mention but with a slightly reinforced tip. In that case the hilt(?) weapon absolutely has to be secured to the wielder. Otherwise torque makes it rotate uncontrollably in the hand.

There are many versions of Katar.

Matt, when it comes to Hinduism, Islam, and Sikhism... Do you know if the katar has an association with any one of those faiths vs. the others? Just curious. Thank you!😊

The Eddy Gordo of soul blade

I play Chivalry 2 on ps5 and get very angry when I encounter these

great video! just a recommendation for editing, you have a lot of background noise in the audio, use audacity noise reduction feature for free or other such feature to make your video way more enjoyable. audio is the most important in video, about 5 times more important than video quality actually

My first time seeing a katar was in Soul Calibur 2. I'm a big fan of Voldo's fighting style.

Punch dagger = assault gun.... scary made up name of an already named object❤

I need that $$$ So price is probably out of range for money

Very interesting info on the katar weapons, do you have any information on the Afgan Lohan knife of the Banochie tribe ?

Does the blade width always end just short of the shoulder of the hand frame?

XCOM2 had a weapon similar to it, for the Templar class

were there single edged Katars?

In the illustration that appears around 10:26, what is the straight bladed sword held sheathed and upright over the left shoulder?

The Minbari used them in the Earth Minbari War. (From the B5 movie, 'In the Beginning') So they go waaaayy back! :D

Awesome video! I was first introduced to katars by playing Diablo II as a teenager, where it was the class-specific weapon for the assassin class. Would love to hear more about them, such as the scissor katar and more fruity varieties. I love how varied and imaginative Indian weaponry is, really enjoy your content relating to that!

Might it be so that the punchdaggers are outlawed because their only use is to be used as a weapon. It can be hard to do bushcraft with it…..