I have been reviewing notes on the pata and katar and though I would add some things here in case there might be further interest in this thread.
Apparantly the pata was a later development of the katar and the katar seems to have developed in southern India sometime early in the 16th c. Robert Elgood in "Hindu Arms and Ritual" (p.149 , fig.15.9) shows an early 16th c.sculpture at Jalakanthesvara Temple Mandapa , Vellore with a warrior wielding a gauntlet dagger. The key feature with these of course have to do with the traversely positioned grips that have suggested the primary function of a punch or thrust dagger.Elgood (op.cit.p.145) notes that by the late 16th to early 17th c. European blades became predominant on katars, and the katar, known as 'jambujadiya' in Sri Lanka, with the closing of the handguard and elongation of the blade became the 'ahura kadura' (=equestrian gauntlet sword).
It is interesting to note that the closed hilt gauntlet on these edged weapons seems to have evolved from the influence of European swords in the south and the developing hand guards eventually closed . These traversely gripped weapons diffused into the Maratha regions to the west, and has been noted the ready availability of European blades mounted in Maratha patas become relatively common.
Research on the possibility of earlier presence of the katar continues, while the development of the pata seems relatively established from the katar .
The reference in Stone (p.436) to the mysterious gauntlet sword described as a Moorish 'boarding sword' of 14th-15th c. once seemed a tempting possibility to the ancestry of the pata. This gauntlet weapon was mounted with a short straight blade between two shorter side blades, in somewhat a trident form. The Stone reference cites as a source an obscure c.1840 inventory of the Royal Armoury in Madrid for the weapon. The weapon was illustrated in Albert Calverts "Spanish Arms and Armour" in 1907 and is actually the only known example of the weapon, which has long since vanished. This strange weapon seems strikingly similar to the 'military forks' of 16th c. Europe (Stone p.450) and it seems almost as if the head of one of these combat altered pitchforks might have been joined with a gauntlet .
While intriguing, this line of speculation is entirely unsupportable and only mentioned here as the topic was included in a number of discussions a couple of years ago.
The question that remains is why was the traverse grip developed, and was the concept limited to the Subcontinent (aside from the curious manople).
The original purpose seems to have been for the thrust, but it is known that the Maratha technique seems to favor slashing, both with pata and katar.
Since shields are often held with traverse grips, and there were examples mounted with blades in the center, presumably for a thrust in adverse conditions...could this have led to the concept of traversely mounted grips on a dagger? It seems I have seen illustrations of a warrior using a shield with a long stiletto type blade using it in such a manner, but lost in notes.
Last, a reference in Burton(p.215) "...the maushtika (fist sword, stiletto) is only a span long, and thus very handy for all kinds of movements".
This reference to a 'fist' sword is extremely tempting to associate to the katar, though the period Burton is discussing is unstated and the term 'span' is decidedly vague (why would a 'sword' be only 9" long?).
This simply seemed like a good opportunity to discuss the katar and the development of the pata, and I would appreciate comments/corrections and observations that might help us better understand the history of these fascinating swords.
Best regards,
Jim
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