katar forging

[Jens Nordlunde]

Katar. North Rajasthan. Length 51 cm, blade 26 cm. The katar is forged in one piece with no decoration at all. The blade with a big armour-piercing tip. When the side guard is hit, the sound is high and sounds like a tuning fork – for a long time. I doubt very much that you can get such a sound, had the katar not been forged in one piece, also there is not sign that it has been put together from several pieces, and no decoration to ‘hide’ that it has been put together.

Double katar. North India. Length 42 cm, blade 23 cm, length of inner blade 20 cm. The outer blade is scabbard for the inner blade, and gold decoration conceals any joint. It is however clear, that the inner blade is far older than the outer blade, so at least the inner blade must have been put into the ‘hilt’ after the hilt was made. The outer blade was made in two parts, one side of the blade and the edges, and the other side, the ‘lid’. It is important to notice that the ends of the side guards are marked, so the inner katar always will be put in the ‘scabbard’ in one way only. If anything else will be tried the inner katar will get stuck. Hardly any sound when the side guards are hit, and the sound stops very quickly.