The development of the Indian katar

[Jens Nordlunde]

Ibrahiim and estcrh,
Thank you for the pictures of katars, of which many are very interesting.
However, personallly I find that such pictures should not stand alone, but be followed by some text explaning abut the age and from where in India the katars come/origin. This way others can lear from the look at a katar how old it is and from where in India it comes.
If only picture are shown and no text to follow, the reader does not get an idea of the development of the katar.

Sultans of the South. Arts of India's Deccan Courts, 1323-1687. MET, 2011.
This is a book with many interesting articles like one by Robert Elgood: Swords in the Deccan in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries. Another article which I will highly recommend is Richard M. Eaton's A Social and Historical Introduction to the Deccan, 1323-1687. This article tells on eight pages about the different influences made upond Deccan from places like Turky, Persia, Mongols and several others, and it gives a relativly good background for understanding how Deccan art developed under the different influences.

Ian,
The following is a quote from the article mentioned above. Maybe it can help when it comes to the language in which the stones are inscribed.
"As early as 1535 Bijapur switched the language of its revenue and Judical accounts from Persian to Marathi; Golconda would do the same with Telugu". I dont know if it will help, as Gujarat could have switched to a third language, but there seem to have been a change of language at the time.

The katar shown is Nayak, from Tanjore or Madurai. 16th to early 17th century. Length 51 cm. Length of blade 33 cm.

Jens