Pesh-kabz
The pesh-kabz or peshkabz (
Design
Most pesh-kabz use a hollow-ground, tempered steel single-edged full tang, recurved blade with a thick spine bearing a "T" cross-section for strength and rigidity.[7][8] In most examples, a pair of handle scales are fixed to the full-tang grip, which features a hooked butt. The earliest forms of this knife featured a recurved blade, suggestive of its Persian origin.[9][10] In all variants the blade is invariably broad at the hilt, but tapers progressively and radically to a needle-like, triangular tip. Upon striking a coat of mail, this reinforced tip spreads the chain link apart, enabling the rest of the blade to penetrate the armour.[7][8] One knife authority concluded that the pesh-kabz "as a piece of engineering design could hardly be improved upon for the purpose".[8]
The knife is typically used as a thrusting weapon also held upside down in hand with the thumb on the bottom of the handle.[11] However, the wide hollow-ground blade also possesses considerable slicing performance, and as such may also be used effectively with slashing or cutting strokes. Its ability to be used as either a cutting or thrusting weapon has caused more than one authority to erroneously classify the pesh-kabz as a fighting dagger.[4][7][8][12]
Pesh-kabz are typically around 40–46 cm (16-18 inches) in overall length, with blades of approximately 28–33 cm (11-13 inches). When compared to other similar knives with T-section blades and reinforced tips, the pesh-kabz is virtually indistinguishable, save for its length of blade. The
The pesh-kabz has a full tang and is traditionally fitted with walrus (دندان ماهی dandān māhi)
History
The pesh-kabz originated in
During their period of colonial rule in India, the British frequently referred to all Afghan blades of this pattern collectively as "Afghan knives" or "Khyber knives",[13][18] after the Khyber Pass that marked the transition from British India to the nation of Afghanistan. In India, manufacture of the pesh-kabz was centered in the northern city of Bhera,[18] now part of Pakistan.
The pesh-kabz is still used today as a personal weapon as well as a ceremonial badge of adulthood for Pashtun and other Afghan hill tribes.
During World War 1, on 17 January 1916, the Maharaja of Patiala ordered a modernized version of the traditional knife fit for the use in modern war from the Wilkinson Sword Company. This exemplar combined a - straight - blade of the classic form with the hilt of a Lee-Enfield bayonet. Only 555 pieces were manufactured and none of these seems to have survived though there is a detailed sketch from the producers' archives.[19]
References
- ^ a b Shakespear, John (1834). A Dictionary of Hindustani and English. Parbury, Allen and Co. p. 471.
- ISBN 9780789458377.
The pesh-kabz was a specialist dagger from Persia and north India, used mainly for piercing chain mail.
- ^ a b Lexicon of Medieval Knives and Daggers, retrieved 5 July 2011
- ^ ISBN 978-1-4402-0387-9(1989), p. 406
- ISBN 9780312368326.
Pesh kabz, a dagger popular in Persia and Northern India.
- ISBN 9780756689513.
The pesh-kabz was a specialized dagger from Persia and northern India.
- ^ ISBN 978-81-7436-340-4(2005), pp. 67-70
- ^ ISBN 0-486-40726-8(revised, 1999), pp. 493-494
- ^ a b Egerton, Wilbraham, (Earl), A Description of Indian and Oriental Armour, London: W.H. Allen & Co., Ltd. (1896), pp. 102-109, 130
- ^ ISBN 978-0-8364-2473-7(1989), pp. 60-68
- ISBN 978-1-62914-116-9.
- ISBN 0-7566-5646-X, 9780756656461 (2010), p. 295
- ^ a b Hartrick, W. B., The Romance of King Edward's Swords, The Strand Magazine, London: Geore Newnes, Ltd., Vol. 30, July–December 1905, pp. 258-259
- ^ a b Balfour, Edward, The Cyclopædia of India and of Eastern and Southern Asia, Volume 1 (3d ed.), London: Bernard Quaritch (1885), pp. 162, 231
- hemorrhage.
- ^ Frederick, George F. (Ph.D.), Ivory and the Elephant in Art, in Archaeology, and in Science, New York: Doubleday, Page & Co. (1916), p. 238
- ^ Gemstones: Ivory, retrieved 6 July 2011
- ^ a b c Watt, Sir George, The Commercial Products of India, London: John Murray Publishers (1890, rev. 1908), p. 561
- ISBN 3-87943-812-9
External links
- Pesh-Kabz Oriental Arms Pesh-Kabz
- Pesh-Kabz in the Royal Collection