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[[File:Indian peshqabz.jpg|thumb|right|Modern pesh-kabz with [[scabbard]] made in [[India]]. Blade: steel; hilt: buffalo horn and brass.]]
[[File:Dagger Asia Louvre 7642.jpg|thumb|right|''Pesh-kabz'', 18th century. Blade: gilt steel; hilt: gilt ivory or bone, Louvre Museum, Paris France.]]
The '''pesh-kabz''' or '''peshkabz''' ({{lang-fa|پیش قبض}}, {{lang-hi|पेश क़ब्ज़}})<ref name="Shakespear1834"/> is a type of [[Indo-Persian culture|Indo-Persian]] knife designed to penetrate [[mail (armour)|mail armour]] and other types of armour.<ref name="Byam1995">{{cite book|last=Byam|first=Michèle|title=Arms and Armor|date=1 April 1995|publisher=[[Dorling Kindersley]]|language=English|isbn=9780789458377|page=34|quote=The pesh-kabz was a specialist dagger from Persia and north India, used mainly for piercing chain mail.}}</ref><ref name="LE">''[http://www.ipass.net/dilligaf/daggers.html Lexicon of Medieval Knives and Daggers]'', retrieved 5 July 2011</ref><ref name="SH">Shackleford, Steve, (ed.), ''Blade's Guide To Knives And Their Values'' (7th ed.), Krause Publications, {{ISBN|978-1-4402-0387-9}} (1989), p. 406</ref> The word is also spelled ''pesh-qabz'' or ''pish-ghabz'' and means "fore-grip" in the [[Persian language]]; it was borrowed into the [[Hindustani language]].<ref name="Shakespear1834">{{cite book|last=Shakespear|first=John|title=A Dictionary of Hindustani and English|url=https://archive.org/details/dictionaryhindus00shakuoft|year=1834|publisher=Parbury, Allen and Co.|language=English|page=[https://archive.org/details/dictionaryhindus00shakuoft/page/471 471]}}</ref> Originally created during [[Safavid Persia]], it became widespread in [[Central Asia]] and the Indian subcontinent during [[Mughal Empire|Mughal period]].<ref name="Group2007">{{cite book|title=The New Weapons of the World Encyclopedia|date=21 August 2007|publisher=Macmillan|language=English|isbn=9780312368326|page=28|quote=Pesh kabz, a dagger popular in Persia and Northern India.}}</ref><ref name="Publishing2011">{{cite book|title=DK Eyewitness Books: Arms and Armor|date=15 August 2011|publisher=[[Dorling Kindersley]]|language=English|isbn=9780756689513|page=34|quote=The ''pesh-kabz'' was a specialized dagger from Persia and northern India.}}</ref>

==Design==
Most pesh-kabz use a hollow-ground, tempered steel single-edged full [[Tang (tools)|tang]], recurved blade with a thick spine bearing a "T" cross-section for strength and rigidity.<ref name="PA">Paul, E. Jaiwant, ''Arms and Armour: Traditional Weapons of India'' (1st ed.), Roli Books, {{ISBN|81-7436-340-8}}, {{ISBN|978-81-7436-340-4}} (2005), pp. 67-70</ref><ref name="ST">Stone, 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, {{ISBN|0-486-40726-8}} (revised, 1999), pp. 493-494</ref> 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.<ref name="EGE">Egerton, Wilbraham, (Earl), ''A Description of Indian and Oriental Armour'', London: W.H. Allen & Co., Ltd. (1896), pp. 102-109, 130</ref><ref name="PAN">Pant, Gayatri Nath, ''Mughal weapons in the Bābur-nāmā'', Delhi: Agam Kala Prakashan, South Asia Books, {{ISBN|0-8364-2473-5}}, {{ISBN|978-0-8364-2473-7}} (1989), pp. 60-68</ref> 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.<ref name="PA"/><ref name="ST"/> One knife authority concluded that the pesh-kabz "as a piece of engineering design could hardly be improved upon for the purpose".<ref name="ST"/>

The knife is typically used as a thrusting weapon also held upside down in hand with the thumb on the bottom of the handle.<ref name="Ayres2014">{{cite book|last=Ayres|first=James|title=The Tactical Knife: A Comprehensive Guide to Designs, Techniques, and Uses|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Lx_nBAAAQBAJ&pg=PT365|date=8 July 2014|publisher=Skyhorse Publishing Company, Incorporated|isbn=978-1-62914-116-9|page=365}}</ref> 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]].<ref name="SH"/><ref name="PA"/><ref name="ST"/><ref name="MCN">McNab, Cris (ed.), ''Knives and Swords, A Visual History'', London: DK Publishing, {{ISBN|0-7566-5646-X}}, 9780756656461 (2010), p. 295</ref>

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]]'')<ref name="HA">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</ref> and is considered a separate design,<ref name="BA">Balfour, Edward, ''The Cyclopædia of India and of Eastern and Southern Asia'', Volume 1 (3d ed.), London: Bernard Quaritch (1885), pp. 162, 231</ref> while the ''[[Chura (knife)|chura]]'', used by the [[Mahsud]] clan of the [[Pashtun people|Pashtun Khyber tribe]], is a slightly shorter version of the pesh-kabz.<ref name="ST"/>

The pesh-kabz has a full tang and is traditionally fitted with walrus (دندان ماهی
''dandān māhi'') [[ivory]] [[scale (anatomy)|scale]]s or [[handle (grip)|handles]],<ref>Ettinghausen, Richard, ''Studies in Muslim iconography I: The Unicorn'', Washington, D.C.: Freer Gallery of Art, Occasional Papers, Vol. 1, No. 3, (1950), p. 127: The famous author and arms collector [[George Cameron Stone]] alleged that the custom of using ivory derived from walrus for knife hilts in the [[Near East]] arose because it was less likely to split than elephant ivory, while others, such as the [[Jesuit]] explorer Father [[Philippe Avril]] state that it was used because it was believed that walrus tusk had the property of staunching a [[hemorrhage]].</ref><ref>Frederick, George F. (Ph.D.), ''Ivory and the Elephant in Art, in Archaeology, and in Science'', New York: Doubleday, Page & Co. (1916), p. 238</ref> but other examples have been found using ivory from the tusks of the [[rhinoceros]], or [[elephant]].<ref name="BA"/><ref>''[http://www.gemstones-guide.com/Ivory.html Gemstones: Ivory]'', retrieved 6 July 2011</ref> Still other knives may be found with scales of wood, [[agate]], [[jasper]], [[quartz|rock crystal]],<ref name="EGE"/> [[Horn (anatomy)#Human uses of horns|horn]], [[Serpentine group|serpentine]] (''[[serpentinite|false jade]]''),<ref name="WA">Watt, Sir George, ''The Commercial Products of India'', London: John Murray Publishers (1890, rev. 1908), p. 561</ref> or metal.<ref name="ST"/><ref name="PAN"/> The sheaths are typically constructed of metal or leather over wood, and may be inset with silver or precious stones.<ref name="SH"/>

==History==
The pesh-kabz originated in [[Safavid Persia]] 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.<ref name="LE"/> The term itself was first used to describe the front of a girdle worn by [[pahlevani and zoorkhaneh rituals|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]] 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]], and [[Shinwari (Pashtun tribe)|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",<ref name="HA"/><ref name="WA"/> after the [[Khyber Pass]] 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]],<ref name="WA"/> 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 Arms [http://www.oriental-arms.co.il/item.php?id=1907 Pesh-Kabz]
* [http://www.royalcollection.org.uk/egallery/object.asp?category=286&object=11289&row=27 Pesh-Kabz] in the [[Royal Collection]]

[[Category:Knives]]
[[Category:Early Modern weapons]]
[[Category:Indo-Persian weaponry]]
[[Category:Indian melee weapons]]

Pesh-kabz - Revision history

174.104.224.199: robot: Create/upgrade articles. If there is a mistake please report on my talk page.