Different variations of the Chakram or War Quoit
If I remember correctly the Chakram or War Quoit was a very popular weapon of the Sikh people of Indian.

The Chakram was normally a throwning weapon, but could it be used as some form of melee weapon? To help classify the Chakram, could it be considered a circular throwing knife?

There are two unique Chakram combination weapons that I've found in two of my books. The first weapon is found in "George Cameron Stone's: Arms and Armor" as number 27 of Figure 533. The other weapon is found in "Weapon: A visual history of arms and armor", on pg. 143.

The first weapon is a combination of a mace and chakram and the second weapon is a combination of a flail and chakram also known as a "Cumberjung". Does anyone know of any other Chakram type weapons? Are there any links to some general information sites on Chakrams?


Last edited by Justin Pasternak on Wed 24 Jan, 2007 6:33 pm; edited 5 times in total
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Thank you.
Re: Different variations of the Chakram or War Quoit
Justin Pasternak wrote:
The Chakram was normally a throwning weapon, but could it be used as some form of melee weapon? To help classify the Chakram, could it be considered a circular throwing knife?


Justin,

I don't think that the chakram would make for a very good melee weapon. How do you hold it effectively? Perhaps if it had some sort of wrapped handle on one side, but then it would make it unbalanced as a throwing weapon. You must be able to have some sort of grip on a hand-to-hand weapon in order to use it. Since they were circular and sharpened on the outside edge, I don't see how you could effectively hold the chakram as a dedicated melee weapon.

I believe I saw a Sikh turban with various sizes of chakram, so they may have come in different sizes. In An Historical Guide to Arms & Armour by Stephen Bull, there is a photo of a pair of chakrams. The caption states that they could be worn on a special painted turban or dastar bungga.

I would class it as a throwing weapon, sort of along the lines of throwing stars.

Stay safe!

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