The pesh-kabz or peshkabz ( fa, پیش قبض, hi, पेश क़ब्ज़) is a type of

Indo-Persian Indo-Persian culture refers to a cultural synthesis present in the Indian subcontinent. It is characterised by the absorption or integration of Persian aspects into the various cultures of Pakistan, India and Bangladesh. The earliest introductio ...

knife designed to penetrate

mail armour Chain mail (properly called mail or maille but usually called chain mail or chainmail) is a type of armour consisting of small metal rings linked together in a pattern to form a mesh. It was in common military use between the 3rd century BC and ...

and other types of armour.
Lexicon of Medieval Knives and Daggers
', retrieved 5 July 2011Shackleford, Steve, (ed.), ''Blade's Guide To Knives And Their Values'' (7th ed.), Krause Publications, (1989), p. 406 The word is also spelled ''pesh-qabz'' or ''pish-ghabz'' and means "fore-grip" in the

Persian language Persian (), also known by its endonym Farsi (, ', ), is a Western Iranian language belonging to the Iranian branch of the Indo-Iranian subdivision of the Indo-European languages. Persian is a pluricentric language predominantly spoken an ...

; it was borrowed into the

Hindustani language Hindustani (; Devanagari: , * * * * ; Perso-Arabic: , , ) is the '' lingua franca'' of Northern and Central India and Pakistan. Hindustani is a pluricentric language with two standard registers, known as Hindi and Urdu. Thus, the lang ...

. Originally created during

Safavid Persia Safavid Iran or Safavid Persia (), also referred to as the Safavid Empire, '. was one of the greatest Iranian empires after the 7th-century Muslim conquest of Persia, which was ruled from 1501 to 1736 by the Safavid dynasty. It is often conside ...

, it became widespread in

Central Asia Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes the fo ...

and the Indian subcontinent during

Mughal period The Mughal Empire was an early-modern empire that controlled much of South Asia between the 16th and 19th centuries. Quote: "Although the first two Timurid emperors and many of their noblemen were recent migrants to the subcontinent, the d ...

Design

Most pesh-kabz use a hollow-ground, tempered steel single-edged full

tang Tang or TANG most often refers to: * Tang dynasty * Tang (drink mix) Tang or TANG may also refer to: Chinese states and dynasties * Jin (Chinese state) (11th century – 376 BC), a state during the Spring and Autumn period, called Tang (唐) ...

, recurved blade with a thick spine bearing a "T" cross-section for strength and rigidity.Paul, E. Jaiwant, ''Arms and Armour: Traditional Weapons of India'' (1st ed.), Roli Books, , (2005), pp. 67-70Stone, G. Cameron, '' A Glossary of the Construction, Decoration and Use of Arms and Armor: In All Countries And In All Times'', Portland, Maine: Dover Publications, (revised, 1999), pp. 493-494 In most examples, a pair of handle scales are fixed to the full-tang grip, which features a hooked butt. The earliest forms of this knife featured a recurved blade, suggestive of its Persian origin.Egerton, Wilbraham, (Earl), ''A Description of Indian and Oriental Armour'', London: W.H. Allen & Co., Ltd. (1896), pp. 102-109, 130Pant, Gayatri Nath, ''Mughal weapons in the Bābur-nāmā'', Delhi: Agam Kala Prakashan, South Asia Books, , (1989), pp. 60-68 In all variants the blade is invariably broad at the hilt, but tapers progressively and radically to a needle-like, triangular tip. Upon striking a coat of mail, this reinforced tip spreads the chain link apart, enabling the rest of the blade to penetrate the armour. One knife authority concluded that the pesh-kabz "as a piece of engineering design could hardly be improved upon for the purpose". The knife is typically used as a thrusting weapon also held upside down in hand with the thumb on the bottom of the handle. However, the wide hollow-ground blade also possesses considerable slicing performance, and as such may also be used effectively with slashing or cutting strokes. Its ability to be used as either a cutting or thrusting weapon has caused more than one authority to erroneously classify the pesh-kabz as a fighting

dagger A dagger is a fighting knife with a very sharp point and usually two sharp edges, typically designed or capable of being used as a thrusting or stabbing weapon.State v. Martin, 633 S.W.2d 80 (Mo. 1982): This is the dictionary or popular-use def ...

.McNab, Cris (ed.), ''Knives and Swords, A Visual History'', London: DK Publishing, , 9780756656461 (2010), p. 295 Pesh-kabz are typically around 40–46 cm (16-18 inches) in overall length, with blades of approximately 28–33 cm (11-13 inches). When compared to other similar knives with T-section blades and reinforced tips, the pesh-kabz is virtually indistinguishable, save for its length of blade. The '' kard'' or ''bahbudi'' (antiq.) has a longer blade (though still shorter than an Afghan sword such as the ''salwar

yatagan The yatagan, yataghan or ataghan (from Turkish language, Turkish ''yatağan''), also called varsak, is a type of Ottoman Empire, Ottoman knife or short sabre used from the mid-16th to late 19th centuries. The yatagan was extensively used in Otto ...

'')Hartrick, W. B., ''The Romance of King Edward's Swords'', The Strand Magazine, London: Geore Newnes, Ltd., Vol. 30, July–December 1905, pp. 258-259 and is considered a separate design,Balfour, Edward, ''The Cyclopædia of India and of Eastern and Southern Asia'', Volume 1 (3d ed.), London: Bernard Quaritch (1885), pp. 162, 231 while the '' chura'', used by the

Mahsud The Mahsud or Mehsood ( ps, محسود), also spelled Maseed ( ps, ماسيد), is a Karlani Pashtun tribe inhabiting mostly the South Waziristan Agency in the former Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) of Pakistan, now merged within Khy ...

clan of the Pashtun Khyber tribe, is a slightly shorter version of the pesh-kabz. The pesh-kabz has a full tang and is traditionally fitted with walrus (دندان ماهی ''dandān māhi'')

ivory Ivory is a hard, white material from the tusks (traditionally from elephants) and teeth of animals, that consists mainly of dentine, one of the physical structures of teeth and tusks. The chemical structure of the teeth and tusks of mammals i ...

scales or handles, but other examples have been found using ivory from the tusks of the

rhinoceros A rhinoceros (; ; ), commonly abbreviated to rhino, is a member of any of the five extant species (or numerous extinct species) of odd-toed ungulates in the family Rhinocerotidae. (It can also refer to a member of any of the extinct specie ...

, or

elephant Elephants are the largest existing land animals. Three living species are currently recognised: the African bush elephant, the African forest elephant, and the Asian elephant. They are the only surviving members of the family Elephantida ...

.
Gemstones: Ivory
', retrieved 6 July 2011 Still other knives may be found with scales of wood,

agate Agate () is a common rock formation, consisting of chalcedony and quartz as its primary components, with a wide variety of colors. Agates are primarily formed within volcanic and metamorphic rocks. The ornamental use of agate was common in Anci ...

jasper Jasper, an aggregate of microgranular quartz and/or cryptocrystalline chalcedony and other mineral phases,Kostov, R. I. 2010. Review on the mineralogical systematics of jasper and related rocks. – Archaeometry Workshop, 7, 3, 209-213PDF/ref ...

, rock crystal, horn, serpentine ('' false jade''),Watt, Sir George, ''The Commercial Products of India'', London: John Murray Publishers (1890, rev. 1908), p. 561 or metal. The sheaths are typically constructed of metal or leather over wood, and may be inset with silver or precious stones.

History

The pesh-kabz originated in

and is believed to have been created sometime in the 17th century to overcome the mail armor worn by mounted and foot soldiers of the day. The term itself was first used to describe the front of a girdle worn by Persian wrestlers, indicating that the pesh-kabz was worn centrally as opposed to the ''kard'' and other blades which were worn at the sides. It soon spread to neighbouring Afghanistan and Central Asia before eventually being introduced to the

Indian subcontinent The Indian subcontinent is a physiographical region in Southern Asia. It is situated on the Indian Plate, projecting southwards into the Indian Ocean from the Himalayas. Geopolitically, it includes the countries of Bangladesh, Bhutan, In ...

by the Mughals. After armor ceased to be worn by modern armies, the pesh-kabz retained its utility as a close combat knife, and many Pashtun tribesmen, particularly the Mahsud,

Afridi The Afrīdī ( ps, اپريدی ''Aprīdai'', plur. ''Aprīdī''; ur, آفریدی) are a Pashtun tribe present in Pakistan, with substantial numbers in Afghanistan. The Afridis are most dominant in Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal ...

, and Shinwari clans, continued to use the design, along with the ''chura'' and ''kard''. During their period of colonial rule in India, the British frequently referred to all Afghan blades of this pattern collectively as "Afghan knives" or "Khyber knives", after the

Khyber Pass The Khyber Pass (خیبر درہ) is a mountain pass in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan, on the border with the Nangarhar Province of Afghanistan. It connects the town of Landi Kotal to the Valley of Peshawar at Jamrud by traversing p ...

that marked the transition from British India to the nation of Afghanistan. In India, manufacture of the pesh-kabz was centered in the northern city of

Bhera Bhera ( pa, ; ur, ) is a city and tehsil of Sargodha District, Punjab province of Pakistan. The city is known for wood-carved items, textiles (such as quilts and khussas), and certain desserts (such as pheonian and pateesa). The city i ...

, now part of Pakistan. The pesh-kabz is still used today as a personal weapon as well as a ceremonial badge of adulthood for Pashtun and other Afghan hill tribes.

References

{{reflist

External links

* Pesh-Kabz Oriental Arm
Pesh-Kabz

Pesh-Kabz
in the

Royal Collection The Royal Collection of the British royal family is the largest private art collection in the world. Spread among 13 occupied and historic royal residences in the United Kingdom, the collection is owned by King Charles III and overseen by the ...

Knives Early Modern weapons Indo-Persian weaponry Indian melee weapons