Scissors Katar

[Stan S.]

Jens, sadly I am not familiar with Dr. Hendley's work. However being a surgeon to the British army does not necessarily entail fixing wounds on anyone other than British soldiers. And unless there is a record of him specifically treating injuries that resulted from a scissor katar, his commentary on the use of this weapon is a hearsay, however educated it may be.

With this being said, I don't doubt that the not-so-commonly encountered examples of scissor katar such as the one posted here are based on a fully functional weapon designed to inflict "horrible wounds" or act as a sword catcher. Without a doubt this would require a stronger spring and a blade arrangement actually cosisting of 3 blades that slide one behind the other like blades of a scissor (rather than a single blade and two halves of a "shell"). In my years of collecting and researching Indian weapons I am yet to encounter one. If anyone had seen it, or even better, has it in their coleection, I would love to hear about it or see some pictures.