The “ regulation Khyber Knife” in the Afghani Army at end of the 19th – beginning of

[mahratt]

Dear forum members, be thought to your attention a short article.
I express my deep gratitude to Jim McDougall, for the data on Mashin Khan. And thank Ariel for the translation of my article from Russian to English.
I value your opinion and criticism. Maybe someone will add their knowledge my little study.

[CENTER]The “ regulation Khyber Knife” in the Afghani Army at end of the 19th – beginning of the 20-th centuries.[/CENTER]

At the end of the 19th century virtually all Oriental militaries were furnished with the regulation patterns of their sidearms, as a rule adopting European examples. This was also true about Afghanistan, where regulation sidearms, - or patterns resembling them, - appeared not earlier than 1870-s (we are not discussing examples of genuinely European weapons used by the individual Afghans).
After the 2nd Anglo-Afghan War ( 1878-1880) Afghanistan began to develop industrial weapon production on a small scale. The war ended in 1880 with the defeat of the so-called “Afghan rebels” by the British army. However, the British were unable to control the entire territory, so instead they put on the throne an Emir of their choice. British Empire assumed relative control of the country, and in exchange they paid a subsidy to the local government and provided it with weapons. Adur Rahman was a good choice for the British. Having decided to modernize the society, he became a virtual creator of the country that we know now as modern Afghanistan. One of his new creations was the establishment of a State Arsenal in Kabul in 1887 that was called Mashin Khana (Machine House). It was built with the assistance of the British engineers and metallurgists. As expected, the main thrust of the Arsenal was aimed at mass production of firearms. Nevertheless, a small quantity of the regulation side arms was also manufactured in the Mashin Khana

The appearance of the regulation sidearms at the very end of the 19th century is confirmed by known iconographic sources. There was not a single example of regulation Afghani sidearms among multiple images photographed by John Burke and published in the album of Omar Khan “From Kashmir to Kabul” (2). Nevertheless, even after that time the regulation sidearms were in use side by side with the traditional ethnic examples of bladed weapons.

The so-called Khyber Knife (presumably called Salawar Yataghan locally) is an example of a typical Afghani bladed weapon, a mix between the short, - and the long-bladed configuration (Fig.1). It was called “sword” by Stone (4), but it may also be named dussack, or short sword, as defined by the modern terminology.
First, the name. Both terms, - Khyber Knife and Salawar Yataghan, - are unsatisfactory. The latter one was first mentioned by Egerton (5) and repeated by Stone (6). That was how it entered the contemporary usage. Nevertheless, native Afghans themselves cannot explain the connection of this term with any of the 3 main languages: Pushtu, Dari or Farsi. Moreover, we are hesitant to use the adopted word “yataghan” for a traditional Afghani weapon. The name “Khyber” is also unsatisfactory. It derives from the locality where this weapon was regularly observed. There is a stable tradition of transcription of the term “Khyber Pass”, that is derived from Pushtu: د خیبر درہ. Why then do we call the weapon Khyber Knife, if Khyber Sword would be a more precise term due to its respectable size? The only explanation for this term is its simplicity: short and convenient, and most importantly, - traditional. While we fully understand the imperfection of the established terminology, we shall henceforth employ the established term Khyber.
In its classical variant, the Khyber has massive, straight, T-reinforced blade of substantial length, widened at the basis (root), so that the latter actually plays the role of a guard. The back of the blade is as a rule straight and undecorated. The handle consists of 2 horn or bone slabs (the bone ones are often assembled of separate pieces). The scabbard is conical, made of wood and covered with leather or fabric. Frequently there is a long metal chape that is often decorated with chasing technique. The handle enters the scabbard by ~2/3 of its length, and the beak-like pommel is the only part visible, making the sword very convenient for rapid withdrawal. Egerton mentions that Gilzais, Khyberies and members of other tribes carry on their hips swords in massive scabbards that are about 3 feet long and refers to the illustration showing a typical Khyber (7). The length of a typical example is between 45-100 cm.