The pesh-kabz or peshkabz (, ) is a type of Indo-Persian

knife A knife (: knives; from Old Norse 'knife, dirk') is a tool or weapon with a cutting edge or blade, usually attached to a handle or hilt. One of the earliest tools used by humanity, knives appeared at least Stone Age, 2.5 million years ago, as e ...

designed to penetrate mail armour and other types of armour.
Lexicon of Medieval Knives and Daggers
', retrieved 5 July 2011Shackleford, Steve, (ed.), ''Blade's Guide To Knives And Their Values'' (7th ed.), Krause Publications, (1989), p. 406 The word is also spelled ''pesh-qabz'' or ''pish-ghabz'' and means "fore-grip" in the

Persian language Persian ( ), also known by its endonym and exonym, endonym Farsi (, Fārsī ), is a Western Iranian languages, Western Iranian language belonging to the Iranian languages, Iranian branch of the Indo-Iranian languages, Indo-Iranian subdivision ...

; it was borrowed into the

Hindustani language Hindustani is an Indo-Aryan language spoken in North India and Pakistan as the lingua franca of the region. It is also spoken by the Deccani people, Deccani-speaking community in the Deccan plateau. Hindustani is a pluricentric language w ...

. Originally created during

Safavid Persia The Guarded Domains of Iran, commonly called Safavid Iran, Safavid Persia or the Safavid Empire, was one of the largest and longest-lasting Iranian empires. It was ruled from 1501 to 1736 by the Safavid dynasty. It is often considered the beg ...

, it became widespread in

Central Asia Central Asia is a region of Asia consisting of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The countries as a group are also colloquially referred to as the "-stans" as all have names ending with the Persian language, Pers ...

and the Indian subcontinent during the Mughal period.

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.Paul, E. Jaiwant, ''Arms and Armour: Traditional Weapons of India'' (1st ed.), Roli Books, , (2005), pp. 67-70Stone, G. Cameron, '' A Glossary of the Construction, Decoration and Use of Arms and Armor: In All Countries And In All Times'', Portland, Maine: Dover Publications, (revised, 1999), pp. 493-494 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.Egerton, Wilbraham, (Earl), ''A Description of Indian and Oriental Armour'', London: W.H. Allen & Co., Ltd. (1896), pp. 102-109, 130Pant, Gayatri Nath, ''Mughal weapons in the Bābur-nāmā'', Delhi: Agam Kala Prakashan, South Asia Books, , (1989), pp. 60-68 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. One knife authority concluded that the pesh-kabz "as a piece of engineering design could hardly be improved upon for the purpose". The knife is typically used as a thrusting weapon also held upside down in hand with the thumb on the bottom of the handle. 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 A dagger is a fighting knife with a very sharp point and usually one or two sharp edges, typically designed or capable of being used as a cutting or stabbing, thrusting weapon.State v. Martin, 633 S.W.2d 80 (Mo. 1982): This is the dictionary or ...

.McNab, Cris (ed.), ''Knives and Swords, A Visual History'', London: DK Publishing, , 9780756656461 (2010), p. 295 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 '' kard'' or ''bahbudi'' (antiq.) has a longer blade (though still shorter than an Afghan sword such as the ''salwar yatagan'')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 and is considered a separate design,Balfour, Edward, ''The Cyclopædia of India and of Eastern and Southern Asia'', Volume 1 (3d ed.), London: Bernard Quaritch (1885), pp. 162, 231 while the '' chura'', used by the Mahsud clan of the Pashtun Khyber tribe, is a slightly shorter version of the pesh-kabz. The pesh-kabz has a full tang and is traditionally fitted with walrus (دندان ماهی ''dandān māhi'')

ivory Ivory is a hard, white material from the tusks (traditionally from elephants) and Tooth, teeth of animals, that consists mainly of dentine, one of the physical structures of teeth and tusks. The chemical structure of the teeth and tusks of mamm ...

scales or handles, but other examples have been found using ivory from the tusks of the

rhinoceros A rhinoceros ( ; ; ; : rhinoceros or rhinoceroses), commonly abbreviated to rhino, is a member of any of the five extant taxon, extant species (or numerous extinct species) of odd-toed ungulates (perissodactyls) in the family (biology), famil ...

, or

elephant Elephants are the largest living land animals. Three living species are currently recognised: the African bush elephant ('' Loxodonta africana''), the African forest elephant (''L. cyclotis''), and the Asian elephant ('' Elephas maximus ...

. Still other knives may be found with scales of wood,

agate Agate ( ) is a banded variety of chalcedony. Agate stones are characterized by alternating bands of different colored chalcedony and sometimes include macroscopic quartz. They are common in nature and can be found globally in a large number of d ...

jasper Jasper, an aggregate of microgranular quartz and/or cryptocrystalline chalcedony and other mineral phases, is an opaque, impure variety of silica, usually red, yellow, brown or green in color; and rarely blue. The common red color is due to ...

, rock crystal, horn, serpentine ('' false jade''),Watt, Sir George, ''The Commercial Products of India'', London: John Murray Publishers (1890, rev. 1908), p. 561 or metal. The sheaths are typically constructed of metal or leather over wood, and may be inset with silver or precious stones.

History

The pesh-kabz originated in

and is believed to have been created sometime in the 17th century to overcome the mail armor worn by mounted and foot soldiers of the day. The term itself was first used to describe the front of a girdle worn by Persian wrestlers, indicating that the pesh-kabz was worn centrally as opposed to the ''kard'' and other blades which were worn at the sides. It soon spread to neighbouring Afghanistan and Central Asia before eventually being introduced to the

Indian subcontinent The Indian subcontinent is a physiographic region of Asia below the Himalayas which projects into the Indian Ocean between the Bay of Bengal to the east and the Arabian Sea to the west. It is now divided between Bangladesh, India, and Pakista ...

by the Mughals. After armor ceased to be worn by modern armies, the pesh-kabz retained its utility as a close combat knife, and many Pashtun tribesmen, particularly the Mahsud, Afridi, and Shinwari clans, continued to use the design, along with the ''chura'' and ''kard''. 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", after the

Khyber Pass The Khyber Pass (Urdu: درۂ خیبر; ) is a mountain pass in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan, on the border with the Nangarhar Province of Afghanistan. It connects the town of Landi Kotal to the Valley of Peshawar at Jamrud by tr ...

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, 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 Maharaja (also spelled Maharajah or Maharaj; ; feminine: Maharani) is a royal title in Indian subcontinent, Indian subcontinent of Sanskrit origin. In modern India and Medieval India, medieval northern India, the title was equivalent to a pri ...

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 A bayonet (from Old French , now spelt ) is a -4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to talk of the beginnings of French, that is, when it wa ... , now spelt ) is a knife, dagger">knife">-4; we might wonder whethe ...

. Only 555 pieces were manufactured and none of these seems to have survived though there is a detailed sketch from the producers' archives.

References

{{reflist

External links

* Pesh-Kabz Oriental Arm
Pesh-Kabz

Pesh-Kabz
in the

Royal Collection The Royal Collection of the British royal family is the largest private art collection in the world. Spread among 13 occupied and historic List of British royal residences, royal residences in the United Kingdom, the collection is owned by King ...

Knives Early Modern weapons Indo-Persian weaponry Indian martial arts Weapons of India

Design

History

See Also

References

External links