Pesh-kabz, Pesh-quabz, Pesh-kabj, or Pish-ghabz (colloq. Pers.) is the name of an Indo-Persian-Afghan knife used in Safavid Persia, Mughal India, and some nations of central Asia. The Pesh-kabz remained popular in Colonial India and into the modern period, especially by the tribal societies of the Hindu Kush in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Originally of Persian origin, the Pesh-kabz was designed to penetrate chain mail and other types of armor.[1][2]
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All Pesh-kabz knives use a hollow-ground, tempered steel single-edged full-tang blade with a thick spine bearing a ”T” cross-section for strength and rigidity.[3][4] 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 origins, but later examples may be found with both recurved or straight blades.[5][6] 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 armor.[3][4] One knife authority concluded that the Pesh-kabz "as a piece of engineering design could hardly be improved upon for the purpose".[4]
The knife is typically used as a thrusting weapon. 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.[2][3][4][7]
Pesh-kabz knives 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 virtually indistinguishable, save for its length of blade. The otherwise identical Karud or Bahbudi (antiq.) has a longer blade (though still shorter than a Afghan sword such as the Salwar yataghan)[8] and is considered a separate design,[9] while the Chura, used by the Mahsud clan of the Pashtun Khyber tribe, is a slightly shorter version of the Pesh-kabz.[4]
The Pesh-kabz has a full tang and is traditionally fitted with shirmani (دندان ماهی sir mahi, or walrus) ivory scales or handles),[10][11] but other examples have been found using ivory from the tusks of the rhinoceros, or elephant.[9][12] Still other knives may be found with scales of wood, agate, jasper, rock crystal,[5] horn, serpentine (false jade),[13] or metal.[4][6] The sheaths are typically constructed of metal or leather over wood, and may be inset with silver or precious stones.[2]
The Pesh-kabz is of Persian and Central Asian origin and was introduced into India by the Mughals (reigned 1526-1858).[3] The name means 'fore-grip' in Persian, and is believed to have been created sometime in the 17th century. Developed specifically to overcome the mail armor worn by mounted and foot soldiers of the day, the knife was widely distributed in central Asia and what is now Afghanistan, Pakistan, and northern India.[1]
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 clans, continued to use the design, along with the Chura and Karud. During their period of colonial rule in India, the British frequently referred to all Afghan knives and swords of this pattern collectively as Afghan knives or Khyber knives,[8][13] 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,[13] now part of Pakistan.
During the First and Second Anglo-Afghan wars, the Pesh-kabz along with the Afghan knife was frequently the weapon of choice for finishing off wounded British and colonial troops, as the Afghan tribesmen did not take prisoners except for use as hostages.[14][15]
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. During the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, this knife was again the weapon most often used to execute captured or wounded prisoners, this time Soviet and Afghan army soldiers, pilots, and tank crewmen.