[Jim McDougall]

Hi Kukulz,
I would like to thank you for opening this great topic for discussion, and you have indeed piqued my curiosity! Frankly, though we have discussed katars many times through the years, and the obvious selection of curved vs. the prevalent straight blades has not as far as I know, been considered.

I have looked through most of the extant resources, which offer no tangible explanation for blade variations, though noting the examples typically catalogued or pictured, the blades are indeed most often straight. The resources I looked into were "Hindu Arms and Ritual" (Robert Elgood); "Indian Arms and Armour" (G.N.Pant); "Traditional Weapons of India" (E.Jaiwent Paul); and of course the venerable Egerton reference.

In previous discussions of the development of the pata, the well known 'gauntlet' sword, it seems generally held that these evolved from the katar. What remains uncertain is the origin and development of the katar itself, and one of the most unusual references is in Stone, showing a curious weapon claimed c.15th century, 'Moorish', and termed the 'manople'. This is a gauntlet type weapon with straight blade and blades parallel on either side of the central larger blade, giving it a trident effect. For a time, this curious weapon was somewhat entertained as a potential proto-katar/pata, but later discovered that Stone had perpetuated an error from earlier cataloguing of the Armeria Real in Madrid (Jubinal, c.1840), and that this was simply a version of pata with unclear provenance. The resemblance to the trident (trisula) of Shiva is clear evidence of Indian influence, or possibly even provenance.

Whatever the case, it remains that most katar blades are straight, with those of primarily Mahratta origin with cut down European sword blades, in the west, to the hooded hand guard examples of Tanjore, to the east. The preponderance of katars of the most commonly seen form, and with reinforced armor piercing tip, seem to be from the northern regions with Rajput and Sikh provenance. In Egerton, the captions reflect provenance for most of these from Lahore, Patiala, and Punjab, all northern regions.

To the south of these regions is Gujerat and Kach, where the rather distinct hilt of the so called 'Garsoe' katar is found, again typically straight blades.
In these regions, the katar is a profound symbol, where in Kathiwar and the Kattee people swear oaths and agreements on its blade.

In Pant, there is mention of a katar with curved blade in the Prince of Wales Museum in Bombay (p.170) and it is stated of 17th century and Maratha, curiously noting it is thickened at the tip, which seems atypical with the known use of slashing cuts employed by them. Perhaps a suggestion that the katar may have developed in the north in Rajput regions as often suggested?
However, it should be noted that Pant often seems quite liberal in his assignment of period, and items referenced from many museums are from provenances that seem, in my opinion, seriously clouded.

Pant also cites a curved blade example of late 17th century from Delhi (p.170, fig. 527) with a blade recurved in 'bichwa' form. It is important to note that in Pant, the katar is referred to by the apparantly proper term, 'jamadhar' which is the word describing this weapon in Indian language. The katar term is believed to have become misapplied in the Egerton work, and became a collectors reference to the transverse hilt 'punch daggers'.
It is so soundly entrenched as the descriptive term in place, it would only be counterproductive and confusing to try to correct this error at this point.

With this overview, I have added simply for the benefit of general readers and those not already familiar with all of this information, I think it would be interesting to continue the discussion of the query Kukulz has posed.

Although there are seemingly few examples of curved bladed katars, what would compel the choice of these blades? We know that the manner of use may be of course, the key factor, and that most katars familiar to us are the northern versions with reinforced armour piercing tip. We also know that the bichwa daggers with recurved blades were a popularly chosen form, and perhaps if I recall, somewhat regional. Possibly regions favoring the bichwa may be of some association to curved blade katars?

I do hope others out there will join in with thier ideas, as I think Kukulz has presented a most astutely observed question, and this is our opportunity to learn more on these familiar, yet apparantly under researched weapons.

All very best regards,
Jim