[Sakalord364]

Originally Posted by Jim McDougall

Interesting question, and as has been noted, the fantastic book by Dmitry is a must for anyone interested in these distinctive weapons.

If most were asked to note a distinctive weapon that represented Afghanistan, most would respond first of all.....the KHYBER KNIFE.
While these have been commonly called that, they have also been called a silliwar yataghan....the term silliwar apparently a local term used (the yataghan simply added by collectors and writers for effect).

Actually these Khyber knives are simply evolved from the Persian dagger called the PESH KABZ according to some sources. Typically these kinds of assertions bring about considerable consternation, which are part of what we affectionately call here....the 'name game' This refers to constant efforts to classify certain forms which are actually variants of one form into different categories of individual weapons in certain ethnographic contexts,

The KARUD which is actually a large version of the pesh kabz and the term a corruption of the Persian term 'dari kard'. The kard is of course another characteristic Persian knife.

The pesh kabz typically has a straight blade, while it has generally been held that the Indian version has a curved blade.

Then comes the CHOORA (CHURRA) which is simply a term denoting the pesh kabz, which somehow ended up being applied to a smaller version of the these common in Khyber regions.

Basically these 'forms' are all variations of Persian weapons, with the terms we know them by applied by anxious collectors in their endless endeavors to classify and categorize.

What distinguishes the Afghan versions seems to be primarily the blade spine which strengthens for thrusts through heavy clothing etc.

The familiar Khyber knife has thereby been regarded as the quintessential Afghan edged weapon, and its term derived from British Hobson-Jobson (military slang). This was further popularized in the writings of Kipling.

The sword known as the paluoar is actually a more elaborate version of the Indian tulwar, which seems to have derived from these kinds of hilts in Persian and Ottoman swords of 16th c. These distinctive swords are always recognized as AFGHAN but with Egerton (1885) they were classified as tulwars. In those times Afghanistan was largely independent principalities, and emirates rather than a cohesive nation.
In British perspective in the Raj, these regions were Northwest India.

The shamshir, distinctively Persian of course, was prevalent in Afghanistan as well as throughout the Dar as Islam.

The shashka, the characteristic Caucasian saber, these also had certain presence in Afghanistan, which may have come into this sphere through Persian and Russian infusions of influence.

The curious appearance of the Nepalese kukri probably came in though the British of course and via Gurkha influences.

Other weapons such as the lohar have likely influence from India, which in turn came from Chinese dagger axes.

Here one of the common aspects of discussion on ethnographic weapons concerns the development of weapon forms, their history, and evolution. Obviously each form had to begin somewhere, but just how, where, when.....are questions not easily answered.

It seems Persian influence was the most prevalent through these regions and the Indian subcontinent as well as much further.

Just wanted to share my thoughts on an interesting query.

Afghanistan being small compared to Iran and India, it’s not surprising that foreign influence found its way into Afghan edged weapons, but I still wonder however if the pulwar hilt merely survived in Afghanistan due to its geographic isolation, or if the pulwar hilt was created in Afghan lands. It is quite common in Afghanistan but very rare in India, at least photographically speaking