[mariusgmioc]

From all I know, the main role of the side bars of the Katars is to ensure the stability of the grip by maintaining the alignment between the blade and the forearm and not for parrying blows, albeit they could be used for parry.

If their main purpose would have been parrying, they would have been designed wider, longer and of course thicker, because the way they are, they are simply to short and narrow to effectively block a blow from a Tulwar for example. Any blow from a Tulwar that wouldn't be perfectly perpendicular to the side bar would simply be deflected along the unprotected portion of the arm and cause severe wounding.

Moreover, the Katar was never meant to be a main fighting weapon but a side arm. No Indian soldier would have gone to battle armed with a Katar but with a Tulwar and a shield. The Katar would have stayed sheathed in the sash and pulled out only as a last resort when the wielder has lost his Tulwar, or to deliver a final blow to an incapacitated enemy.

Katars were also used for hunting, exactly the same way the European hunting daggers were used, namely to deliver the final blow to the dying beast.

I know there are many stories about Rajas killing charging tigers and fighting single-handed entire armies armed only with a Katar, but how much truth is in them?!