South Indian Dagger, 2nd-6th Century AD
 

https://www.britishmuseum.org/collec.../A_1868-0401-1

Source for the 2nd-6th Century AD dagger.

The image of the statue is a archer from the Southern Chola Empire, 11th Century AD. Which has a dagger of a similar design.

You can see the form factor bulge, almond grip that is popular developing.

Excellent info. Thanks! :)

An ancestor of Chillanum and/or Jamdhar Katari?

Man, you manage to find examples that put the existing theories upside down!

Where are you located and are you a professional historian of weapons? You seem to be far too good for an armchair amateur:-)

Im in the US - happy late 4th. But ancestry is Indian. I am just a arm chair history buff, but never the less I accumulated a lot of interesting things over the years. At this point I probably accumulated more than some people who actually publish books, art, etc. At this point I can almost tell which period of Indian history is from the clothing, architecture, etc. and I have a eye for interesting subtle things in Indian clothing, weapons, etc. But things from India keep throwing me off at times. I cant imagine the interesting things are yet to find in the ground. Once Indian archaeology gets proper funds, support, etc. more interesting things await.

:D

Speaking of Chillanum --

Deccan, Undavalli Caves, 6th-7th Century AD

Interesting right? Earliest example of the similar langet design you'd see later on. Though the ones on Talwar were from early Islamic models.