The Rampuri (रामपूरी चाकू) is an Indian

gravity knife A gravity knife is a knife with a blade contained in its handle, and that opens its blade by the force of gravity. This mechanism of opening is fundamentally different from the switchblade, which extends its spring-propelled blade automatically up ...

of formidable reputation having a single-edged blade roughly long. Sometimes, it is the

switchblade A switchblade (aka switch knife, automatic knife, pushbutton knife, ejector knife, flick knife, Stiletto, flick blade, or spring knife (Sprenger,Benson, Ragnar (1989). ''Switchblade: The Ace of Blades''. Paladin Press. pp. 1–14. . The sw ...

type but there are also step-lock types. The name Rampuri comes from the town of

Rampur, Uttar Pradesh Rampur ( ) is a city, and the municipality headquarter of Rampur District in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It was formerly known for its various industries, like sugar refining and cotton milling. Its library has more than 12,000 rare manus ...

. The royal

bladesmith Bladesmithing is the art of making knives, swords, daggers and other blades using a forge, hammer, anvil, and other smithing tools. Bladesmiths employ a variety of metalworking techniques similar to those used by blacksmiths, as well as woodworkin ...

s of local

Nawabs of Rampur Rampur State was a 15 gun-salute princely state of British India. It came into existence on 7 October 1774 as a result of a treaty with Oudh. Following independence in 1947, Rampur State and other princely states of the area, such as Ben ...

started making knives after the popularization of

firearm A firearm is any type of gun designed to be readily carried and used by an individual. The term is legally defined further in different countries (see Legal definitions). The first firearms originated in 10th-century China, when bamboo tubes ...

s after the 18th century. The Rampuri is still in use today as a criminal weapon, by the local

Indian Mafia Organised crime in India refers to organised crime elements originating in India and active in many parts of the world. The purpose of organised crime in India, as elsewhere in the world, is monetary gain. Its virulent form in modern times is d ...

although locally made guns and sophisticated automatic pistols have largely taken their place. However, in mid 1990s, the

Government of Uttar Pradesh The Government of Uttar Pradesh (ISO: Uttar Pradesh Sarkār; often abbreviated as GoUP) is the subnational government of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh with the governor as its appointed constitutional head of the state by the President of I ...

banned making such knives longer than of blade length, which led to the drop in popularity of the knife, which even made its way to crime thrillers of

Bollywood Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular term Bollywood, is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (fo ...

in the 1960s and 1970s.

References

Knives Rampur, Uttar Pradesh Blade weapons Crime in Uttar Pradesh Culture of Uttar Pradesh {{India-hist-stub