Ethnographic Arms & Armour - View Single Post - Huge sword

Rivkin · 21st December 2005, 05:59 AM

There is such thing as a georgian mega-kindjal, called satevari ("attack"). I have seen examples with total length of 27+ inches, and heard of XVIIIth century ones that were up to 35+ inches. I have never heard of anything larger than 40 inches.

At the same time these mega-kamas remind me of japanese "swords of gods", humongous, up to 10 feet long, but very high quality and quite functional swords, attributed to great heroes and gods of the past.
Concerning the ritual connection to ashura: I have seen lots of spires, knives and whips being used, but I can not imagine anything repeatable about someone taking this 7 pounds monster and trying to inflict some pain with it.

However, in my very humble opinion, Qajar period is known for not very functional but very symbolic and may be even slightly apprehensive for a muslim weapons - like Gorz-mace. While the shia sect is a complete darkness to me, it is Shahnameh, not Quran, Hadith or anything of a traditional islam that fueled these "revival" forms.

21st December 2005, 05:59 AM	#5
Rivkin Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Posts: 655	There is such thing as a georgian mega-kindjal, called satevari ("attack"). I have seen examples with total length of 27+ inches, and heard of XVIIIth century ones that were up to 35+ inches. I have never heard of anything larger than 40 inches. At the same time these mega-kamas remind me of japanese "swords of gods", humongous, up to 10 feet long, but very high quality and quite functional swords, attributed to great heroes and gods of the past. Concerning the ritual connection to ashura: I have seen lots of spires, knives and whips being used, but I can not imagine anything repeatable about someone taking this 7 pounds monster and trying to inflict some pain with it. However, in my very humble opinion, Qajar period is known for not very functional but very symbolic and may be even slightly apprehensive for a muslim weapons - like Gorz-mace. While the shia sect is a complete darkness to me, it is Shahnameh, not Quran, Hadith or anything of a traditional islam that fueled these "revival" forms.