Another picture update!

I completed the two pictures for this week. That's 3 down so far and 2 to go before March. Check out the post on the Katara if you haven't seen it before. It's one of my favorite weapons of all time. The Katara of the Rajput.

I didn't have much else to say this week because I'm still plugging away on the world building. Unfortunately I haven't directed much attention to Devil Dog, but that will change soon. I've almost got all the basic stuff into the World building book. Then it'll just be a bunch of fleshing out details of various things as they come to me. Once I've reached that point, my brain might release me from that world and let me get back to Devil Dog. Apparently my goal of creating impossible tasks has been an absolute success. I have failed part of it, but I've made more progress the last few weeks than I did all of last year. See you next week. For those of you who like the corporate holiday called Valentine's Day, I hope you have a great one.

Weapons & Warriors: The Bagh Nakha of the Marathas

Art by TL Jeffcoat

This deadly weapon, which is frowned upon as an assassin’s tool, was designed to mimic the claws of a tiger, which is what the name Bagh Nakha translates into. Fitted into the palm of a hand, it could be easily concealed until it’s time to strike. The Maratha Emporer, Shivaji, was supposedly one of the first to use it to thwart his assassination, and disembowel the general who had attempted to strike him down during a negotiation.

The crossbar could be made from anything, such as wood, metal, or even a glove. Four curved blades were fixed to stick out from the palm. In older designs, the spikes were fastened to a bar and holes were cut in the bar to fit the fingers through, but eventually it evolved into a ring on either end for the pinky and pointer fingers. At a glance, the unsuspecting victim might believe the assassin was wearing a couple of rings.

Weapons & Warriors: Talwar of the Sikhs

The Talwar Art by TL Jeffcoat

There are several variations of this curved sword, but none are completely the same. The Talwar was used by both Moghuls and Sikhs in the region of India. It is slightly curved like a sabre but with a wider blade at the end. The British sabre was most likely modeled after the Talwar. They are similar in design but the handle of the British Sabre is different.

The entire weapon is made with iron, and the handle is short and capped with a disc shaped piece of metal. The metal disc had a spike protruding from underneath. The short handle gives the warrior a firmer grip, but can also restrict most stabbing and hacking strikes. The blade is sharpened all the way to the hilt, unlike several other similar sword designs. The sword is not just one piece of molded metal. The blade is inserted into the cross guard with an adhesive. Making the blade a separate piece from the handle gives a sword more flexibility when striking. A sword that doesn't give is soon a broken sword.

Weapons & Warriors: The Warrior Saints

I’ve written about warriors who battled to defend their religious rights, but never about a warrior culture that rose up within a pacifist religion. They took up arms to defend themselves and their way of life from forces that threatened to murder them and destroy their way of life. Then they went on to help save the world from a marauding evil. Sounds like a great story of fiction doesn’t it? Well it’s not. Let me tell you about the Warrior Saints of India, the Sikhs.

Guru of the Sikhs (Picture via Wikipedia)

In the late 1400’s and early 1500’s a man named Nanak Dev Ji was born and grew up in the Punjab area. He was a respected and loved man. He was very intelligent and inquisitive. At some point he became the founder of a new religious group that was unlike the other religions. Guru Nanak preached that there was no Hindu or Muslim because in the eyes of God we are all equal. Guru Nanak traveled all over the Middle East and into parts of Africa before returning to India to settle down. The followers of Guru Nanak became known as the Sikhs, which means “to learn.”

The pacifist group grew over the decades and centuries. At times the religion was respected by all, Hindu and Muslims included. Guru Nanak was known to meet and speak to the leaders of both Hindu and Muslims. He preached about equality and working hard to achieve goals in life. He even taught that women and men were equal because without women to raise good men, there would be no good men.

Weapons & Warriors: The Rajput, Sons of Kings

The Rajput warriors are a noble caste that once ruled portions of India and Southeast Asia. Their reign dates back to the fall of the Gupta Empire sometime in the 5th or 6th century and lasted until 1947-1950 when the final Rajput princes joined their kingdoms with modern India after it achieved its Independence from British rule. They were given the option of joining Pakistan, India or remaining independent. Overwhelmingly they decided to unite with India. Rajput literally means the son of a king and they were born as nobles and trained to fight as soon as they were old enough to learn. They were mentally focused and well respected warriors by all who traveled in these regions. When the British occupied India, they recruited heavily among the Rajput because they admired the warrior culture that they felt could help them with the colonial army.

The Rajput had to defend their lands against many invaders over the centuries. Some of these powerful enemies were the Mongols and Arabs. Despite being outnumbered, they held their ground and repelled almost every invader that tried to conquer them by force. The region ruled by the Rajput was very fertile and productive and was very irresistible to its neighbors. During the 11th and 12th centuries, Islamic invaders constantly troubled the Hindu Rajput. The Rajput fought valiantly but often fought amongst their neighboring Rajput kingdoms as well. This inability to unite caused many problems towards the 1300’s and Islam began to spread throughout their lands. Eventually they allied with the Mughal Empire in the 1600's and remained loyal even after the British supplanted the Mughal power 200 years later.

Weapons & Warriors: The Bhuj of the Rajput

The Bhuj is a small axe that is named after the Indian city of Bhuj. The design is that of an axe, but it is often called an axe-knife. The long blade runs down the steel shaft. The thick heavy blade allows the weapon to chop through virtually anything and the short length of its shaft allows for more agility when in engaged close with an enemy. The bhuj is quite easy to use as much as a thrusting weapon as a chopping weapon. The tip of the blade is sharpened on both edges and is capable of penetrating most armor. This axe was often called the elephant knife because of the elephant head tip on the end of the steel shaft. The ornament doubles as a handle for a thin blade that is hidden in the shaft of the axe.

The Elephant Knife is as deadly as it is decorated. Engravings run along the blades and shaft. The scabbard for the blade is often decorated as well. Despite the weight of the axe, the small size made it easily portable and made for a great weapon against those with spears. The blade could easily snap the wooden shafts of enemies as they were thrust at the Rajput. Another advantage the Bhuj has over other axes was the sword blows against its shaft. Since the entire weapon was made of steel, it would not break if a sword or axe struck the shaft.

Weapons & Warriors: The Chakram of the Rajput

Fans of Xena the Warrior Princess will probably be familiar with the Chakram. This weapon is a flying disc of death. Its razor sharp outer edge is capable of slicing through bone, and can be thrown up to around 90 feet (30 meters). The hoop shaped design was aerodynamic and would not alter its flight due to wind. Rajput trained to pinch the weapon with the thumb and forefinger to avoid cutting themselves when preparing to throw this deadly ring. Unlike Xena’s magical chakram, the real ones usually did not return because they were imbedded in whatever they hit.

The weapon could be thrown like a Frisbee, but during combat it was most often thrown with a vertical throw to avoid hitting any allies to either side of their target. Another method that was often used to toss the weapon was by spinning it on the end of a finger and then flinging it with a flick of the wrist. This was believed to make the weapon more deadly as it would be spinning at a greater rate when it struck its target.

Weapons & Warriors: The Urumi of Kerala

The Urumi is one of the most dangerous weapons to use in the history of weapons, not only for its enemies, but for the wielder himself. This whip-sword was first designed in Southern India where it was known as a Chuttaval (Coiled Sword). As you can see in the video, it is very flexible and quite dangerous. The only downfall of the weapon is, like all other whips, it does not penetrate armor. What makes this whip-like weapon far more deadly than a leather whip is that it is made with steel, flattened into about a three quarters inch to an inch and sharpened like a razor on both edges. The four to six foot blade was often coiled around the waist when not in use, making it quite portable. Women who learned to use this blade would wear it like a fashionable belt.

Weapons & Warriors: The Katara of the Rajput

Art by TL Jeffcoat

This is one of my favorite weapons in the Rajput arsenal. Its design is pretty simple, but the weapon itself is far from simple to use effectively. The Rajput carried these weapons as a form of self-defense and status. Sometimes inaccurately referred to as a bundi blade, these deadly daggers were the fiercest purely offensive style weapons ever used by the Rajput. Training of this weapon involved dual wielding techniques and was a style of martial arts all its own. Improper training of this weapon left a warrior vulnerable to attack, but once trained, the dual wielding Rajput was a force to be reckoned with. The Rajput hunted tigers with these blades. Killing a tiger with such a purely offensive and short ranged weapon would be a boost in status for a Rajput, marking him without question one of the bravest and most skilled warriors in the land.