The spear

The first thing that draws attention is exercises with a short spear. According to researchers, Rajputs preferred foot fighting with a sabre (talwar), a khanda, and a short spear as their main offensive arms. This did not exclude the use of other types of weapons (including firearms over time) or equestrian combat; it is only about traditions and preferences.

The techniques with a spear are quite simple and form an instinctively understandable set of movements acquired through practice with a staff as their foundation. Despite the prevailing number of thrusts, there are also chopping techniques. This can be explained by two factors: the use of chopping blows with the spear blade (wide and sturdy spearheads allowed this), and the likely use of combined arms by mercenary Rajputs in the Mughal Army in the 17th century — the weapon had a staff, a spearhead, and a spear butt, but the spearhead was integrated with a large club.

The most common kinds of spears, however, corresponded to the classical design. The short spear for foot combat differed only in a wider point and a rather thick, often bamboo staff. The name of this type of spear used in the system in question is “ballam”, and it resembles the spears of Rajputs in historical descriptions.

In spear forms, the main focus is on movement techniques, in which one step corresponds to one tactical action, and on controlling the surrounding space — the intended battlefield. The existence of spear techniques, specifically the simplicity and naturalness of their elements, suggests that it was once necessary to teach beginner soldiers basic battlefield skills in this region of Rajasthan. These skills remained undoubtedly useful in the military community (akhara) and in village Rajput schools in the 19th century and earlier.

The staff

Basic training in the application of weapons is founded on staff-handling skills — a general principle in the combat systems of India and Iran. The system in question is no exception, where staff-handling skills form the basis for all further training. At the same time, it is not the use of the staff itself as a weapon that is of great value, but rather the movements required to teach handling of the object. It may seem strange, but the movement basis of this system resembles a deliberately accentuated human step or stride, which incorporates the basic principle of movement common to all north-western systems: “pentra”. In this system, the teaching method that uses this principle leads to specific movement skills without any appeal to sacred meanings or miraculous properties. Once the skill is acquired, “pentra” itself continues to exist only as the initiating movement when performing standard forms.

The sword

After acquiring two key skills — namely, movement skills and well-developed wrists through training with a staff — the pupil no longer questions the unusual design of the handle of the classical Indian sabre, the talwar.

Excluding the possibility of holding the handle loosely and allowing the weapon to turn in the hand, the talwar’s handle makes it possible to apply other principles in handling long-bladed cold steel. These principles can be easily traced in the techniques involving a transverse grip of the handle, the number and variety of which are extraordinary in India. Considering that almost all Indian weapons from the staff, spear, and shield to the jamdhar dagger and the pata sword are held with a transverse “hammer” grip, it can be generalised that nearly all Indian weapons have a “transverse” handle.

The use of a shield, a parrying weapon, or a second sword in the left hand does not change this principle and is optional. At the same time, it should be noted that dual sword-wielding warriors were highly valued in India. The Rajput also considered that a person who could learn to handle a sword equally well with both right and left hands had a significant advantage in combat. The skill of wielding two swords simultaneously was not merely theoretical or exceptional in training.

Short blade weapons

Short-blade weapons include Indian daggers with a commonly designed handle (khanjar, khanjarli, jambiya, chilanum, bichwa) and the dagger with a transverse handle, the katar (jamdhar). A distinctive feature of daggers with this common handle construction is that they must be held with a reverse grip, so the blade points downward from the base of the fist. These weapons can be used both for independent offensive techniques and for secondary defensive or parrying actions with the left hand.

The second group, conventionally referred to as short blade weapons, includes weapons mostly used for parrying and intended for the second hand (madu (maru), shields with spikes and blades, and sainti of all types).

 Other weapons

The system does not include Rajput weapons such as maces, axes, or pointed axes. However, as noted above, correctly trained movement skills allow one to move freely and without thought, attacking and defending with any weapon or with none at all. As for practice without weapons, it is enough to say that the trained skill of the wrist which holds a weapon during attack or defence allows the wrist itself to be used effectively as an independent weapon. Likewise, the skill of movement and footwork enables the free leg to be incorporated into offensive or defensive actions.