Multi-Tool Katar
Full Description:
With pleasing proportions and quality, this katar’s hilt has thickly applied gold koftgari and shows interesting evidence that it changed ownership in the 19th century through the covering over of the V-shaped knuckle-bar’s inscriptions and the removal of gold from its face.
The triangular blade is made from wootz steel and has a crisp median ridge. The steel of the two tapering fullers shows off the attractive wootz pattern while the cutting edges and the tip—purposefully swollen to aid its armour-piercing duties—have been polished to a bright finish.
Furthermore, the original scabbard has survived. This has a leather belt with a gilt-iron buckle, a silver chape, and still holds its four gold-adorned tools: two pairs of tweezers; a short, pointed tool; and a nail cleaner. Katars with tools are rare but we previously published another, also from Rajasthan, in our 2016 work Arms & Armour from the East, page 12, number 3.