Jamdhar Katar

[Jim McDougall]

Originally Posted by gp

Questian I have looking at the hilt / grip:

must this not be an awfull combat weapon ….?
Holding it tight, certainly no pleasure in the palm of your hand and for a longer period of close combat quite painful and not safeguarding the tight grip one should need ….

As with many ethnographic edged weapons, especially more modern examples following traditional style, are not for combat, but more accoutrements for wear and certain cultural aspects such as ceremony or ritual. As Christopher Spring ("African Arms and Armor") once noted as writing on African 'throwing knives', there is often a 'western' need to explain how weapons were actually used, where many of these with unusual designs were indeed not for use in combat, but symbolic in their tribal culture.

Pragmatically though, these observations are indeed well placed.