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Central Asia, southern India, Mughal Period, ca. first half of the 19th century CE. A steel katar (also katara or bundi dagger), with an H-shaped horizontal hand grip and a long, pointed, triangular blade that sits below the user’s knuckles. A pronounced ridge and triangular raised lines near the handle contribute to the design of the piece. These types of daggers are unique to southern Asia; ceremonial examples are used in worship, but they are also used in hand-to-hand combat, when they can be punched with the full body weight behind them rather than thrusting as one does with a sword or staff. A triangular leather and wood sheath fits comfortably over the blade. Size (dagger): 17″ L x 2.9″ W (43.2 cm x 7.4 cm); (sheath): 8.875″ L x 1.9″ W (22.5 cm x 4.8 cm)
Condition: Dagger has light oxidation and minor abrasions, otherwise intact and very good. Sheath has tearing to leather exterior and splintering/chipping to wooden interior lining. Tip of dagger pokes out through lowest point of sheath.
Provenance: private J.H. collection, Beaverton, Oregon, USA, acquired in the early 1990s; ex-private Portland, Oregon, USA collection
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