Were the chakram's only used by the Sikhs?

[Jens Nordlunde]

Yes you may Fernando, and you are very welcome. Plate XLVI it is, I should have thought of looking there myself.
I did not know Hobson, it is most interesting, and it seems as if Hobson has found the king. The fact that they, 80-130 years later, lived in another place called Kadri near Mangalore does not have to mean much, as someone else can have taken their land and they had to find new land somewhere else, but I agree with you that Mangalore is very much to the south compared to Cambay.
The reason why I brought the subject up was due to the mention of the weapons they used. Does anyone know how widely spread the use of the maze mentioned and the chakram was?

Denee, you may have a point, but from the way it is written I think the author writes about a specific place.

[fernando]

It could be that this weapon is older thand the foundation of Sikhs.
As an example, just consider this:
http://www.trocadero.com/faganarms/i...9916store.html

[Jens Nordlunde]

Fernando, I think you are on to something right, as I too believe it to be a very old weapon. The strange thing is that the Sikh’s went on using it, but the other tribes/clans stopped using it. I also wonder why other early travellers does not mention it, as it must have been a very strange weapon to them.

[fernando]

Hi Jens,
Yesterday i have found the following definition of Chakram in a certain glossary:
chakra sharp-edged metal disc used as a projectile weapon by medieval and early modern yogis; also yogic term for each of the seven centers of energy in the human body; from Sanskrit chakram (wheel).
This is the link.
http://www.cambridge.org/catalogue/c...1851688&ss=fro
All the best
Fernando

[Jens Nordlunde]

Hi Fernando,
Interesting link thank you. Did you know that the chakra is also called a quoit? So far I have seen three ways of throwing it decsribed, Egerton, Stone and the author of the book I am reading, all give a different way. The author of the book has seen them in use, so I expect his description must be correct, and Stone tells that a friend of his has seen them demonstrated, so his description must also be correct, but I don't know if Egerton ever saw them being used, he might have, but was the way they were thrown really so different in the different parts of the country?
Jens

[katana]

Hi Jens found this reference to a similar weapon which seems to indicate that other variants existed before the Chakra....

"....The history of the Liang Dynasty of China (506-556) spoke of a kingdom called Po-Li to be found on the northern tip of Sumatra. This same kingdom was again mentioned in the history of Sui Dynasty (581-671). "The people in this land are masters at throwing a disk, about the size of a small mirror, whose edges are cerated and sharp, and in whose center a hole is cut. If they throw this weapon they never miss. The other weapons they use are much the same as those existing in China."

http://64.233.183.104/search?q=cache...nk&cd=16&gl=uk

[fernando]

Hi David

Originally Posted by katana

"The people in this land are masters at throwing a disk, about the size of a small mirror, whose edges are cerated and sharp ..."

It comes to mind that we can see these discs in action in Chinese fiction movies ... there is no smoke without fire.
Fernando

[fernando]

Hi Jens
"Killing two rabits with the same shot" ... or trying to answer both questions with the same source.

Did you know that the chakra is also called a quoit? ... but was the way they were thrown really so different in the different parts of the country?

Here you will find, besides some info on its origins, a certain typology differentiating chakram from quoit, as well as mentioning three different ways of throwing this weapon.
http://www.flight-toys.com/rings/chackrum.html
Before reading this, i thaught that twirling them was a bit of a fantasy.
I also thaught that quoit was the western name for chakram.
Fernando

[Davinder Toor]

An interesting 17thc scene showing Yogis in battle using the chakram.