The katar is a type of push dagger from the Indian subcontinent . The weapon is characterized by its H-shaped horizontal hand grip which results in the blade sitting above the user's knuckles. Unique to the Indian subcontinent, it is the most famous and characteristic of Indian daggers. Ceremonial katars were also used in worship.
101-1115: Having originated in South India, the weapon's earliest name-form was likely the Tamil kaṭṭāri ( கட்டாரி ). It is alternatively known in Tamil as kuttuvāḷ ( குத்துவாள் ) which means "stabbing blade". This was adapted into Sanskrit as kaṭār ( कट्टार ) or kaṭārī . Other regional names for the weapon include kaṭhāri ( ಕಠಾರಿ ) in Kannada , kathari ( కఠారి ) in Telugu , kaṭāra ( കട്ടാര ) in Malayalam , kaṭyāra ( कट्यार ) in Marathi , kāṭār , ( ਕਟਾਰ ) in Panjabi , and kirat Dewan language|(chhuiket) in nepal kaṭāra ( कटार ) or kaṭāri in Hindi . The katar
202-468: A lexical root to which one or more affixes are attached. Most Tamil affixes are suffixes . Tamil suffixes can be derivational suffixes, which either change the part of speech of the word or its meaning, or inflectional suffixes, which mark categories such as person , number , mood , tense , etc. There is no absolute limit on the length and extent of agglutination , which can lead to long words with many suffixes, which would require several words or
303-595: A mandrel . This process was referred to as "laminating" or "Damascus". These types of barrels earned a reputation for weakness and were never meant to be used with modern smokeless powder, or any kind of moderately powerful explosive. Because of the resemblance to Damascus steel, higher-end barrels were made by Belgian and British gun makers. These barrels are proof marked and meant to be used with light pressure loads. Current gun manufacturers make slide assemblies and small parts such as triggers and safeties for Colt M1911 pistols from powdered Swedish steel resulting in
404-432: A , as with other Indic scripts . This inherent vowel is removed by adding a tittle called a puḷḷi , to the consonantal sign. For example, ன is ṉa (with the inherent a ) and ன் is ṉ (without a vowel). Many Indic scripts have a similar sign, generically called virama , but the Tamil script is somewhat different in that it nearly always uses a visible puḷḷi to indicate a 'dead consonant' (a consonant without
505-759: A 2001 survey, there were 1,863 newspapers published in Tamil, of which 353 were dailies. Tamil is the primary language of the majority of the people residing in Tamil Nadu , Puducherry , (in India) and in the Northern and Eastern provinces of Sri Lanka . The language is spoken among small minority groups in other states of India which include Karnataka , Telangana , Andhra Pradesh , Kerala , Maharashtra , Gujarat , Delhi , Andaman and Nicobar Islands in India and in certain regions of Sri Lanka such as Colombo and
606-536: A bend after being flexed past their elastic limit . The blade that Beowulf used to kill Grendel's mother in the story Beowulf was described in some Modern English translations as "damascened". A common misconception is that the steel was hardened by thrusting it six times in the back and thighs of a slave. This originated in an article on page 28 of the Chicago Tribune of November 4, 1894 titled Tempering Damascus Blades . The note asserts that
707-457: A bulat helmet made for him in 1621. The exact origin or the manufacturing process of the bulat is unknown, but it was likely imported to Russia via Persia and Turkestan, and it was similar and possibly the same as Damascus steel. Pavel Petrovich Anosov successfully reproduced the process in the mid-19th century. Wadsworth and Sherby also researched the reproduction of bulat steel and published their results in 1980. A team of researchers based at
808-458: A certain "Prof. von Eulenspiegel" found a scroll "among the ruins of ancient Tyre". "Eulenspiegel" is the name of the legendary prankster of medieval Germany. The exceptionally strong fictional Valyrian steel mentioned in George R. R. Martin's book series A Song of Ice and Fire , as well as its television adaptation Game of Thrones , appears to have been inspired by Damascus steel, but with
909-523: A crucible recipe, no added plant material is necessary to provide the required carbon content, and as such any nanowires of cementite or carbon nanotubes would not have been the result of plant fibers. A research team in Germany published a report in 2006 revealing nanowires and carbon nanotubes in a blade forged from Damascus steel, although John Verhoeven of Iowa State University in Ames suggests that
1010-519: A family of around 26 languages native to the Indian subcontinent . It is also classified as being part of a Tamil language family that, alongside Tamil proper, includes the languages of about 35 ethno-linguistic groups such as the Irula and Yerukula languages (see SIL Ethnologue ). The closest major relative of Tamil is Malayalam ; the two began diverging around the 9th century CE. Although many of
1111-447: A hair falling across the blade. Although many types of modern steel outperform ancient Damascus alloys, chemical reactions in the production process made the blades extraordinary for their time, as Damascus steel was very flexible and very hard at the same time. The methods used to create medieval Damascus steel died out by the late 19th century. Modern steelmakers and metallurgists have studied it extensively, developing theories on how it
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#17327826710421212-413: A magic twist. Just like Damascus/ Wootz steel, Valyrian steel also seems to be a lost art from an ancient civilization. Unlike Damascus steel, however, Valyrian steel blades require no maintenance and cannot be damaged through normal combat. Verhoeven, Peterson, and Baker completed mechanical characterization of a Damascus sword, performing tensile testing as well as hardness testing . They found that
1313-607: A number of apparent Tamil loanwords in Biblical Hebrew dating to before 500 BCE, the oldest attestation of the language. Old Tamil is the period of the Tamil language spanning the 3rd century BCE to the 8th century CE. The earliest records in Old Tamil are short inscriptions from 300 BCE to 700 CE. These inscriptions are written in a variant of the Brahmi script called Tamil-Brahmi . The earliest long text in Old Tamil
1414-671: A number of skeletons were found buried in earthenware urns dating from at least 696 BCE in Adichanallur . Some of these urns contained writing in Tamil Brahmi script, and some contained skeletons of Tamil origin. Between 2017 and 2018, 5,820 artifacts have been found in Keezhadi . These were sent to Beta Analytic in Miami , Florida , for Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) dating. One sample containing Tamil-Brahmi inscriptions
1515-518: A number of sound changes, in particular, a tendency to lower high vowels in initial and medial positions, and the disappearance of vowels between plosives and between a plosive and rhotic. Contact with European languages affected written and spoken Tamil. Changes in written Tamil include the use of European-style punctuation and the use of consonant clusters that were not permitted in Middle Tamil. The syntax of written Tamil has also changed, with
1616-455: A sentence in English. To give an example, the word pōkamuṭiyātavarkaḷukkāka (போகமுடியாதவர்களுக்காக) means "for the sake of those who cannot go" and consists of the following morphemes : போக pōka go முடி muṭi accomplish Damascus steel Damascus steel ( Arabic : فولاذ دمشقي) refers to the high carbon crucible steel of the blades of historical swords forged using
1717-561: A sesame-seed or snowflake patterning. When a knife or sword is wiped clean and treated with 'gold thread' alum, [the pattern] appears. Its value is greater than silver. During the smelting process to obtain wootz steel ingots, woody biomass and leaves are known to have been used as carburizing additives along with certain specific types of iron rich in microalloying elements. These ingots would then be further forged and worked into Damascus steel blades. Research now shows that carbon nanotubes can be derived from plant fibers, suggesting how
1818-647: A small number speak the language. In Reunion where the Tamil language was forbidden to be learnt and used in public space by France it is now being relearnt by students and adults. Tamil is also spoken by migrants from Sri Lanka and India in Canada , the United States , the United Arab Emirates , the United Kingdom , South Africa , and Australia . Tamil is the official language of
1919-401: A specific process that may be difficult to replicate should the production technique or raw materials used be significantly altered. The claim that carbon nanowires were found has not been confirmed by further studies, and there is contention among academics about whether the nanowires observed are actually stretched rafts or rods formed out of cementite spheroids. Modern attempts to duplicate
2020-526: A status symbol, much like the Southeast Asian kris or the Japanese katana . Princes and nobles were often portrayed wearing a katar at their side. This was not only a precaution for self-defense, but also meant to show their wealth and position. Mughal nobility would even hunt tigers with a katar. Some modern katar designs may include single-shot pistols built into either side of the weapon. In
2121-610: A subject of study in schools in the French overseas department of Réunion . In addition, with the creation in October 2004 of a legal status for classical languages by the Government of India and following a political campaign supported by several Tamil associations, Tamil became the first legally recognised Classical language of India. The recognition was announced by the contemporaneous President of India , Abdul Kalam , who
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#17327826710422222-463: A variety of dialects that are all collectively known as Brahmin Tamil . These dialects tend to have softer consonants (with consonant deletion also common). These dialects also tend to have many Sanskrit loanwords. Tamil in Sri Lanka incorporates loan words from Portuguese , Dutch , and English. In addition to its dialects, Tamil exhibits different forms: a classical literary style modelled on
2323-438: A vowel). In other Indic scripts, it is generally preferred to use a ligature or a half form to write a syllable or a cluster containing a dead consonant, although writing it with a visible virama is also possible. The Tamil script does not differentiate voiced and unvoiced plosives . Instead, plosives are articulated with voice depending on their position in a word, in accordance with the rules of Tamil phonology . In addition to
2424-584: Is a Dravidian language natively spoken by the Tamil people of South Asia . It is one of the two longest-surviving classical languages in India , along with Sanskrit , attested since c. 300 BCE. The language belongs to the southern branch of the Dravidian language family and shares close ties with Malayalam and Kannada . Despite external influences, Tamil has retained a sense of linguistic purism, especially in formal and literary contexts. Tamil
2525-574: Is a direct thrust identical to a punch, although it could also be used for slashing. This design allows the fighter to put their whole weight into a thrust. The sides of the handle could be used for blocking but it otherwise has little defensive capability. As far back as the 16th century, there was at least one fighting style which focused on fighting with a pair of katar, one in each hand. Tamil language Sri Lanka Singapore Malaysia Canada and United States Tamil ( தமிழ் , Tamiḻ , pronounced [t̪amiɻ] )
2626-457: Is based on the dialect of Jaffna . After Tamil Brahmi fell out of use, Tamil was written using a script called vaṭṭeḻuttu amongst others such as Grantha and Pallava . The current Tamil script consists of 12 vowels , 18 consonants and one special character, the āytam . The vowels and consonants combine to form 216 compound characters, giving a total of 247 characters (12 + 18 + 1 + (12 × 18)). All consonants have an inherent vowel
2727-401: Is deemed unlikely by Southworth due to the contemporary use of the compound 'centamiḻ', which means refined speech in the earliest literature. The Tamil Lexicon of University of Madras defines the word "Tamil" as "sweetness". S. V. Subramanian suggests the meaning "sweet sound", from tam – "sweet" and il – "sound". Tamil belongs to the southern branch of the Dravidian languages ,
2828-501: Is difficult, as crucible steel cannot be reliably distinguished from other types of steel by just one criterion, so the following distinguishing characteristics of crucible steel must be taken into consideration: By these definitions, modern recreations of crucible steel are consistent with historic examples. Bin iron : It is produced by the Western Barbarians. Some [types] have a spiral self-patterning, while others have
2929-563: Is extensively described in the oldest known grammar book for Tamil, the Tolkāppiyam . Modern Tamil writing is largely based on the 13th-century grammar Naṉṉūl which restated and clarified the rules of the Tolkāppiyam , with some modifications. Traditional Tamil grammar consists of five parts, namely eḻuttu , col , poruḷ , yāppu , aṇi . Of these, the last two are mostly applied in poetry. Tamil words consist of
3030-511: Is found in Tholkappiyam , which is dated as early as late 2nd century BCE. The Hathigumpha inscription , inscribed around a similar time period (150 BCE), by Kharavela , the Jain king of Kalinga , also refers to a Tamira Samghatta ( Tamil confederacy ) The Samavayanga Sutra dated to the 3rd century BCE contains a reference to a Tamil script named 'Damili'. Southworth suggests that
3131-462: Is fully documented and well understood. Pattern-welded steel has been referred to as "Damascus steel" since 1973 when Bladesmith William F. Moran unveiled his "Damascus knives" at the Knifemakers' Guild Show. This "Modern Damascus" is made from several types of steel and iron slices welded together to form a billet , and currently, the term "Damascus" (although technically incorrect)
Katar (dagger) - Misplaced Pages Continue
3232-405: Is generally taken to have been completed by the 8th century, was characterised by a number of phonological and grammatical changes. In phonological terms, the most important shifts were the virtual disappearance of the aytam (ஃ), an old phoneme, the coalescence of the alveolar and dental nasals, and the transformation of the alveolar plosive into a rhotic . In grammar, the most important change
3333-409: Is generally used in formal writing and speech. For instance, it is the language of textbooks, of much of Tamil literature and of public speaking and debate. In recent times, however, koṭuntamiḻ has been making inroads into areas that have traditionally been considered the province of centamiḻ . Most contemporary cinema, theatre and popular entertainment on television and radio, for example,
3434-410: Is in koṭuntamiḻ , and many politicians use it to bring themselves closer to their audience. The increasing use of koṭuntamiḻ in modern times has led to the emergence of unofficial 'standard' spoken dialects. In India, the 'standard' koṭuntamiḻ , rather than on any one dialect, but has been significantly influenced by the dialects of Thanjavur and Madurai . In Sri Lanka, the standard
3535-543: Is no evidence of local production of crucible steel, though there is evidence of imported steel being forged into swords in Damascus. The name could have been an early form of branding . "Damascus steel" may either refer to swords made or sold in Damascus directly, or simply those with the distinctive surface patterns on the swords, in the same way that Damask fabrics (also named for Damascus), got their name. [REDACTED] Damascus blades were first manufactured in
3636-771: Is not always consistently applied. ISO 15919 is an international standard for the transliteration of Tamil and other Indic scripts into Latin characters. It uses diacritics to map the much larger set of Brahmic consonants and vowels to Latin script , and thus the alphabets of various languages, including English. Apart from the usual numerals, Tamil has numerals for 10, 100 and 1000. Symbols for day, month, year, debit, credit, as above, rupee, and numeral are present as well. Tamil also uses several historical fractional signs. /f/ , /z/ , /ʂ/ and /ɕ/ are only found in loanwords and may be considered marginal phonemes, though they are traditionally not seen as fully phonemic. Tamil has two diphthongs : /aɪ̯/ ஐ and /aʊ̯/ ஔ ,
3737-422: Is now a general agreement that many of the swords, or at least the steel ingots from which they were forged, were imported from elsewhere. Originally, they came from either Southern India , where the steel-making techniques used were first developed, or from Khorasan , Iran . The reputation and history of Damascus steel has given rise to many legends, such as the ability to cut through a rifle barrel or to cut
3838-592: Is predominantly spoken in Tamil Nadu , India, and the Northern and Eastern provinces of Sri Lanka . It has significant speaking populations in Malaysia , Singapore , and among diaspora communities . Tamil has been recognized as a classical language by the Indian government and holds official status in Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Singapore. The earliest extant Tamil literary works and their commentaries celebrate
3939-409: Is the Tolkāppiyam , an early work on Tamil grammar and poetics, whose oldest layers could be as old as the late 2nd century BCE. Many literary works in Old Tamil have also survived. These include a corpus of 2,381 poems collectively known as Sangam literature . These poems are usually dated to between the 1st century BCE and 5th century CE. The evolution of Old Tamil into Middle Tamil , which
4040-793: Is used as one of the languages of education in Malaysia , along with English, Malay and Mandarin. A large community of Pakistani Tamils speakers exists in Karachi , Pakistan , which includes Tamil-speaking Hindus as well as Christians and Muslims – including some Tamil-speaking Muslim refugees from Sri Lanka. There are about 100 Tamil Hindu families in Madrasi Para colony in Karachi. They speak impeccable Tamil along with Urdu, Punjabi and Sindhi. Many in Réunion , Guyana , Fiji , Suriname , and Trinidad and Tobago have Tamil origins, but only
4141-557: Is widely accepted to describe modern pattern-welded steel blades in the trade. The patterns vary depending on how the smith works the billet. The billet is drawn out and folded until the desired number of layers are formed. To attain a Master Smith rating with the American Bladesmith Society that Moran founded, the smith must forge a Damascus blade with a minimum of 300 layers. J. D. Verhoeven and A. H. Pendray published an article on their attempts to reproduce
Katar (dagger) - Misplaced Pages Continue
4242-604: The Near East from ingots of wootz steel that were imported from Southern India (present-day Telangana Tamil Nadu and Kerala ). Al Kindi states that crucible steel was also made in Khorasan known as Muharrar, in addition to steel that was imported. There was also domestic production of crucible steel outside of India, including Merv (Turkmenistan) and Yazd , Iran. In addition to being made into blades in India (particularly Golconda) and Sri Lanka, wootz / ukku
4343-465: The Pandiyan Kings for the organization of long-termed Tamil Sangams , which researched, developed and made amendments in Tamil language. Even though the name of the language which was developed by these Tamil Sangams is mentioned as Tamil, the period when the name "Tamil" came to be applied to the language is unclear, as is the precise etymology of the name. The earliest attested use of the name
4444-571: The Technical University of Dresden that used x-rays and electron microscopy to examine Damascus steel discovered the presence of cementite nanowires and carbon nanotubes . Peter Paufler, a member of the Dresden team, says that these nanostructures are a result of the forging process. Sanderson proposes that the process of forging and annealing accounts for the nano-scale structures. German researchers have investigated
4545-465: The Thanjavur Nayak kingdom of the 17th century. Katar dating back to this period often had a leaf- or shell-like knucklebow curving up from the top of the blade to protect the back of the hand. This form is today sometimes called a "hooded katara" but the knuckleguard was discarded altogether by the later half of the 17th century. As the weapon spread throughout the region it became something of
4646-599: The University of Madras , was one of the earliest dictionaries published in Indian languages. A strong strain of linguistic purism emerged in the early 20th century, culminating in the Pure Tamil Movement which called for removal of all Sanskritic elements from Tamil. It received some support from Dravidian parties . This led to the replacement of a significant number of Sanskrit loanwords by Tamil equivalents, though many others remain. According to
4747-464: The wootz process in the Near East , characterized by distinctive patterns of banding and mottling reminiscent of flowing water, sometimes in a "ladder" or "rose" pattern. "Damascus steel" developed a high reputation for being tough, resistant to shattering, and capable of being honed to a sharp, resilient edge. The term "Damascus steel" traces its roots to the medieval city of Damascus, Syria , perhaps as an early example of branding . However, there
4848-476: The "Shield Splitter" in Tamil. The name indicates this weapon being used to break shields and armor . The weapon was used by many ethnic Tamil infantry units aka "Kaalatpadai". This falls under the "mushtikai" class of Indian weapon system. "Mushti" means the fingers closed and "kai" means arm. A Tamil king would be gifted with a golden Kidari as a token of loyalty from the Kaalatpadai General. It
4949-491: The 11th century, retain many features of the Vaishnava paribasai , a special form of Tamil developed in the 9th and 10th centuries that reflect Vaishnavite religious and spiritual values. Several castes have their own sociolects which most members of that caste traditionally used regardless of where they come from. It is often possible to identify a person's caste by their speech. For example, Tamil Brahmins tend to speak
5050-650: The 18th century, some traditional katar were refurbished with this innovation. The katar ceased to be in common use by the 19th century, though they were still forged for decorative purposes. During the 18th and 19th century, a distinctive group of katar were produced at Bundi in Rajasthan . They were ornately crafted and their hilts were covered in gold foil. These katar were shown at the Great Exhibition of 1851 in Crystal Palace , London . Since then,
5151-407: The 54-fold samples had an impact toughness of 4.36 J/cm , while the 250-fold samples had an impact toughness of 5.49 J/cm . Tensile testing showed that yield strengths and elongations for both samples were similar, at around 475 MPa and 3.2% respectively. However, the maximum strength of the 54-fold samples was notably lower than that of the 250-fold samples (750 MPa vs. 860 MPa). This study showed that
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#17327826710425252-407: The Damascus steel was somewhat comparable to hot-rolled steel bars with 1.0 wt% carbon with regards to mechanical properties. The average yield strength of 740 MPa was higher than the hot-rolled steel yield strength of 550 MPa, and the average tensile strength of 1070 MPa was higher than the hot-rolled steel tensile strength of 965 MPa. These results are likely due to the finer pearlite spacing in
5353-446: The Damascus steel, refining the microstructure. The elongation and reduction in area were also slightly higher than the hot-rolled steel averages. Rockwell hardness measurements of the Damascus steel ranged from 62 to 67. These mechanical properties were consistent with the expected properties from the constituent steels of the material, falling between the upper and lower bounds created by the original steels. Another study investigated
5454-439: The Damascus to the original materials, finding that the properties of the Damascus steel lie in between those of the two constituent steels, which is consistent with composite material properties. The processing and design of the laminations and bands can have a significant effect on mechanical properties as well. Regardless of tempering temperature and the liquid the steel is quenched in, the impact strength of Damascus steel where
5555-481: The Indian state of Haryana , purportedly as a rebuff to Punjab , though there was no attested Tamil-speaking population in the state, and was later replaced by Punjabi , in 2010. In Malaysia, 543 primary education government schools are available fully in Tamil as the medium of instruction . The establishment of Tamil-medium schools has been in process in Myanmar to provide education completely in Tamil language by
5656-474: The Indian state of Tamil Nadu and one of the 22 languages under schedule 8 of the constitution of India . It is one of the official languages of the union territories of Puducherry and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands . Tamil is also one of the official languages of Singapore . Tamil is one of the official and national languages of Sri Lanka, along with Sinhala . It was once given nominal official status in
5757-590: The Tamil language, Kannada still preserves a lot from its roots. As part of the southern family of Indian languages and situated relatively close to the northern parts of India, Kannada also shares some Sanskrit words, similar to Malayalam. Many of the formerly used words in Tamil have been preserved with little change in Kannada. This shows a relative parallel to Tamil, even as Tamil has undergone some changes in modern ways of speaking. According to Hindu legend, Tamil or in personification form Tamil Thāi (Mother Tamil)
5858-696: The Tamils who settled there 200 years ago. Tamil language is available as a course in some local school boards and major universities in Canada and the month of January has been declared "Tamil Heritage Month" by the Parliament of Canada . Tamil enjoys a special status of protection under Article 6(b), Chapter 1 of the Constitution of South Africa and is taught as a subject in schools in KwaZulu-Natal province. Recently, it has been rolled out as
5959-517: The Western Barbarians [Xi Fan 西番], is especially fine. The Bao zang lun states: 'There are five kinds of iron ... [The first two come from Hubei and Jiangxi.] Bin iron is produced in Persia [Bosi 波斯]; it is so hard and sharp that it can cut gold and jade ... [The last two kinds come from Shanxi and the Southwest.] The reputation and history of Damascus steel has given rise to many legends, such as
6060-417: The ability to cut through a rifle barrel or to cut a hair falling across the blade. Although many types of modern steel outperform ancient Damascus alloys, chemical reactions in the production process made the blades extraordinary for their time, as Damascus steel was very flexible and very hard at the same time. Extant examples of patterned crucible steel swords were often tempered in such a way as to retain
6161-402: The aggregation of carbon onto these carbide formers, as carbon migrates much more rapidly than the carbide formers. Progressive thermal cycling leads to the coarsening of the cementite spheroids via Ostwald ripening . In Russia, chronicles record the use of a material known as bulat steel to make highly valued weapons, including swords, knives, and axes. Tsar Michael of Russia reportedly had
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#17327826710426262-442: The ancient language ( sankattamiḻ ), a modern literary and formal style ( centamiḻ ), and a modern colloquial form ( koṭuntamiḻ ). These styles shade into each other, forming a stylistic continuum. For example, it is possible to write centamiḻ with a vocabulary drawn from caṅkattamiḻ , or to use forms associated with one of the other variants while speaking koṭuntamiḻ . In modern times, centamiḻ
6363-403: The blade. Sheaths, generally made from watered steel , were sometimes pierced with decorative designs. The heat and moisture of India's climate made steel an unsuitable material for a dagger sheath, so they were covered in fabric such as velvet or silk . Some katar served as a sheath to fit one or two smaller ones inside. Because the katar's blade is in line with the user's arm, the basic attack
6464-496: The carbides was thought to permanently destroy the pattern. However, Verhoeven and Pendray discovered that in samples of true Damascus steel, the Damascene pattern could be recovered by thermally cycling and thermally manipulating the steel at a moderate temperature. They found that certain carbide forming elements, one of which was vanadium, did not disperse until the steel reached higher temperatures than those needed to dissolve
6565-488: The carbides. Therefore, a high heat treatment could remove the visual evidence of patterning associated with carbides but did not remove the underlying patterning of the carbide forming elements. A subsequent lower-temperature heat treatment, at a temperature at which the carbides were again stable, could recover the structure by the binding of carbon by those elements and causing the segregation of cementite spheroids to those locations. Thermal cycling after forging allows for
6666-689: The culture associated with the Neolithic complexes of South India, but it has also been related to the Harappan civilization . Scholars categorise the attested history of the language into three periods: Old Tamil (300 BCE–700 CE), Middle Tamil (700–1600) and Modern Tamil (1600–present). About of the approximately 100,000 inscriptions found by the Archaeological Survey of India in India are in Tamil Nadu. Of them, most are in Tamil, with only about 5 percent in other languages. In 2004,
6767-952: The dialect of Madurai , and iṅkaṭe in some northern dialects. Even now, in the Coimbatore area, it is common to hear " akkaṭṭa " meaning "that place". Although Tamil dialects do not differ significantly in their vocabulary, there are a few exceptions. The dialects spoken in Sri Lanka retain many words and grammatical forms that are not in everyday use in India, and use many other words slightly differently. Tamil dialects include Central Tamil dialect , Kongu Tamil , Madras Bashai , Madurai Tamil , Nellai Tamil , Kumari Tamil in India ; Batticaloa Tamil dialect , Jaffna Tamil dialect , Negombo Tamil dialect in Sri Lanka; and Malaysian Tamil in Malaysia. Sankethi dialect in Karnataka has been heavily influenced by Kannada . The dialect of
6868-399: The differences between Tamil and Malayalam demonstrate a pre-historic divergence of the western dialect, the process of separation into a distinct language, Malayalam, was not completed until sometime in the 13th or 14th century. Additionally Kannada is also relatively close to the Tamil language and shares the format of the formal ancient Tamil language. While there are some variations from
6969-647: The district of Palakkad in Kerala has many Malayalam loanwords, has been influenced by Malayalam's syntax, and has a distinctive Malayalam accent. Similarly, Tamil spoken in Kanyakumari District has more unique words and phonetic style than Tamil spoken at other parts of Tamil Nadu. The words and phonetics are so different that a person from Kanyakumari district is easily identifiable by their spoken Tamil. Hebbar and Mandyam dialects, spoken by groups of Tamil Vaishnavites who migrated to Karnataka in
7070-498: The elemental, structural, and visual characteristics of Damascus steel. They started with a cake of steel that matched the properties of the original wootz steel from India, which also matched a number of original Damascus swords that Verhoeven and Pendray had access to. The wootz was in a soft, annealed state, with a grain structure and beads of pure iron carbide in cementite spheroids, which resulted from its hypereutectoid state. Verhoeven and Pendray had already determined that
7171-579: The folding process has a significant impact on the mechanical properties of the steel, with increasing toughness as fold numbers increase. This effect is likely due to the thinning and refinement of the microstructure, and to achieve optimal properties, the steel should be folded a few hundred times. Further studies of Damascus steel created other steels showed similar results, confirming that increasing folds results in greater impact strength and toughness, and extending this finding to be consistent at higher temperatures. They also compare mechanical properties of
7272-449: The grains on the surface of the steel were grains of iron carbide—their goal was to reproduce the iron carbide patterns they saw in the Damascus blades from the grains in the wootz. Although such material could be worked at low temperatures to produce the striated Damascene pattern of intermixed ferrite / pearlite and cementite spheroid bands in a manner identical to pattern-welded Damascus steel, any heat treatment sufficient to dissolve
7373-699: The hill country . Tamil or dialects of it were used widely in the state of Kerala as the major language of administration, literature and common usage until the 12th century CE. Tamil was also used widely in inscriptions found in southern Andhra Pradesh districts of Chittoor and Nellore until the 12th century CE. Tamil was used for inscriptions from the 10th through 14th centuries in southern Karnataka districts such as Kolar , Mysore , Mandya and Bengaluru . There are currently sizeable Tamil-speaking populations descended from colonial-era migrants in Malaysia , Singapore , Philippines , Mauritius , South Africa , Indonesia, Thailand, Burma , and Vietnam . Tamil
7474-406: The impact is perpendicular to the band orientation is significantly higher than the impact strength where the impact is parallel to the band orientation. This is due to the failure and fracture mechanisms in Damascus steel, where cracks propagate fastest along the interfaces between the two constituent steels. When impact is directed parallel to the bands, cracks are able to propagate easily along
7575-432: The introduction of new aspectual auxiliaries and more complex sentence structures, and with the emergence of a more rigid word order that resembles the syntactic argument structure of English. In 1578, Portuguese Christian missionaries published a Tamil prayer book in old Tamil script named Thambiran Vanakkam , thus making Tamil the first Indian language to be printed and published. The Tamil Lexicon , published by
7676-403: The lamination interfaces. When impact is directed perpendicular to the bands, the lamination interfaces are effectively protected, deflecting the cracks and increasing the energy required for cracks to propagate through the material. Band orientation should be chosen to protect against deformation and increase toughness. Identification of crucible "Damascus" steel based on metallurgical structures
7777-461: The latter of which is restricted to a few lexical items. Tamil employs agglutinative grammar, where suffixes are used to mark noun class , number , and case , verb tense and other grammatical categories. Tamil's standard metalinguistic terminology and scholarly vocabulary is itself Tamil, as opposed to the Sanskrit that is standard for most Indo-Aryan languages . Much of Tamil grammar
7878-403: The length of the user's forearm. The handle is generally of all-steel construction and may be gilded or otherwise decorated. The blade, typically measuring 30–90 cm (12–35 in) in length, is usually cut with a number of fullers. Most katar have straight blades, but in south India they are commonly wavy. South Indian blades are often made broad at the hilt and taper in straight lines to
7979-470: The metal have not always been entirely successful due to differences in raw materials and manufacturing techniques, but several individuals in modern times have successfully produced pattern forming hypereutectoid crucible steel with visible carbide banding on the surface, consistent with original Damascus Steel. Recreating Damascus steel has been attempted by archaeologists using experimental archaeology . Many have attempted to discover or reverse-engineer
8080-423: The name comes from tam-miḻ > tam-iḻ "self-speak", or "our own speech". Kamil Zvelebil suggests an etymology of tam-iḻ , with tam meaning "self" or "one's self", and " -iḻ " having the connotation of "unfolding sound". Alternatively, he suggests a derivation of tamiḻ < tam-iḻ < * tav-iḻ < * tak-iḻ , meaning in origin "the proper process (of speaking)". However, this
8181-420: The name of the smith, and each mentions "damascene" or "damascus" swords to some extent. Drawing from al-Kindi and al-Biruni, there are three potential sources for the term "Damascus" in the context of steel: The most common explanation is that steel is named after Damascus, the capital city of Syria and one of the largest cities in the ancient Levant . In Damascus, where many of these swords were sold, there
8282-420: The nanotubes were formed in the steel. Some experts expect to discover such nanotubes in more relics as they are analyzed more closely. Wootz was also mentioned to have been made out of a co-fusion process using "shaburqan" (hard steel, likely white cast iron) and "narmahan" (soft steel) by Biruni, both of which were forms of either high- and low-carbon bloomery iron, or low-carbon bloom with cast iron. In such
8383-537: The old aspect and time markers. The Nannūl remains the standard normative grammar for modern literary Tamil, which therefore continues to be based on Middle Tamil of the 13th century rather than on Modern Tamil. Colloquial spoken Tamil, in contrast, shows a number of changes. The negative conjugation of verbs, for example, has fallen out of use in Modern Tamil – instead, negation is expressed either morphologically or syntactically. Modern spoken Tamil also shows
8484-455: The point, and elaborately ribbed by grooves parallel to the edges. Occasionally the blades are slightly curved. Some blades are forked into two points, and one decorative variation includes a hollow outer blade which hinges open to expose a smaller blade inside. The Indian nobility often wore ornamental katar as a symbol of their social status. The hilts may be covered in enamel, gems, or gold foil. Similarly, figures and scenes were chiselled onto
8585-444: The possibility of manufacturing high-strength Damascus steel through laser additive manufacturing techniques as opposed to the traditional folding and forging. The resulting samples exhibited superior mechanical properties to ancient Damascus steels, with a tensile strength of 1300 MPa and 10% elongation. Prior to the early 20th century, all shotgun barrels were forged by heating narrow strips of iron and steel and shaping them around
8686-407: The process by which it was made. Since the well-known technique of pattern welding —the forge-welding of a blade from several differing pieces—produced surface patterns similar to those found on Damascus blades, some modern blacksmiths were erroneously led to believe that the original Damascus blades were made using this technique. However today, the difference between wootz steel and pattern welding
8787-553: The properties of Damascus steel produced from 1075 steel and 15N20 steel, which have approximately equal amounts of carbon, but the 15N20 steel notably has 2 wt% nickel. The 1075 steel is known for high strength, but low toughness, with a pearlitic microstructure, and the 15N20 steel is known for high toughness with a ferritic microstructure. The mechanical properties of the resultant laminate Damascus steel were characterized, in samples with 54 folds in production as well as samples with 250 folds. Charpy V-notch impact tests showed that
8888-405: The research team which reported nanowires in crucible steel was seeing cementite , which can itself exist as rods, so there might not be any carbon nanotubes in the rod-like structure. Production of these patterned swords gradually declined, ceasing by around 1900, with the last account being from 1903 in Sri Lanka documented by Coomaraswamy . Some gunsmiths during the 18th and 19th century used
8989-470: The standard characters, six characters taken from the Grantha script , which was used in the Tamil region to write Sanskrit, are sometimes used to represent sounds not native to Tamil, that is, words adopted from Sanskrit, Prakrit , and other languages. The traditional system prescribed by classical grammars for writing loan-words, which involves respelling them in accordance with Tamil phonology, remains, but
9090-445: The term "damascus steel" to describe their pattern-welded gun barrels, but they did not use crucible steel. Several modern theories have ventured to explain this decline: The discovery of alleged carbon nanotubes in the Damascus steel's composition, if true, could support the hypothesis that wootz production was halted due to a loss of ore sources or technical knowledge, since the precipitation of carbon nanotubes probably resulted from
9191-439: The weapon has sometimes been mistakenly referred to in English as a "Bundi dagger". The basic katar has a short, wide, triangular blade. Its peculiarity lies in the handle which is made up of two parallel bars connected by two or more cross-pieces, one of which is at the end of the side bars and is fastened to the blade. The remainder forms the handle which is at right angle to the blade. Some handles have long arms extending across
9292-526: The word for "here"— iṅku in Centamil (the classic variety)—has evolved into iṅkū in the Kongu dialect of Coimbatore , inga in the dialects of Thanjavur and Palakkad , and iṅkai in some dialects of Sri Lanka . Old Tamil's iṅkaṇ (where kaṇ means place) is the source of iṅkane in the dialect of Tirunelveli , Old Tamil iṅkiṭṭu is the source of iṅkuṭṭu in
9393-534: Was a Tamilian himself, in a joint sitting of both houses of the Indian Parliament on 6 June 2004. The socio-linguistic situation of Tamil is characterised by diglossia : there are two separate registers varying by socioeconomic status , a high register and a low one. Tamil dialects are primarily differentiated from each other by the fact that they have undergone different phonological changes and sound shifts in evolving from Old Tamil. For example,
9494-600: Was claimed to be dated to around 580 BCE. John Guy states that Tamil was the lingua franca for early maritime traders from India. Tamil language inscriptions written in Brahmi script have been discovered in Sri Lanka and on trade goods in Thailand and Egypt. In November 2007, an excavation at Quseir-al-Qadim revealed Egyptian pottery dating back to first century BCE with ancient Tamil Brahmi inscriptions. There are
9595-540: Was created by Lord Shiva . Murugan , revered as the Tamil God, along with sage Agastya , brought it to the people. Tamil, like other Dravidian languages, ultimately descends from the Proto-Dravidian language , which was most likely spoken around the third millennium BCE, possibly in the region around the lower Godavari river basin. The material evidence suggests that the speakers of Proto-Dravidian were of
9696-480: Was created in Southern India , its earliest forms being closely associated with the 14th-century Vijayanagara Empire . It may have originated with the mustika , a method of holding a dagger between the middle and index finger still used in kalaripayattu and gatka today. The real name of this is "Kidaari" is from the ancient Tamil warfare class of weapons. Kidaari derived from the term "Kedayam Ari" meaning
9797-524: Was exported as ingots to various production centers, including Khorasan , and Isfahan , where the steel was used to produce blades, as well as across the Middle East. The Arabs introduced the wootz steel to Damascus, where a weapons industry thrived. From the 3rd century to the 17th century, steel ingots were being shipped to the Middle East from South India. Bin iron, which is produced by
9898-702: Was produced, and significant advances have been made. While the exact pattern of medieval Damascus steel has not been reproduced, many similar versions have been made, using similar techniques of lamination, banding, and patterning. These modern reproductions have also been called Damascus steel or "Modern Damascus". The origin of the name "Damascus Steel" is contentious. Islamic scholars al-Kindi (full name Abu Ya'qub ibn Ishaq al-Kindi, circa 800 CE – 873 CE) and al-Biruni (full name Abu al-Rayhan Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Biruni, circa 973 CE – 1048 CE) both wrote about swords and steel made for swords, based on their surface appearance, geographical location of production or forging, or
9999-504: Was the lingua franca for early maritime traders, with inscriptions found in places like Sri Lanka , Thailand , and Egypt . The language has a well-documented history with literary works like Sangam literature , consisting of over 2,000 poems. Tamil script evolved from Tamil Brahmi, and later, the vatteluttu script was used until the current script was standardized. The language has a distinct grammatical structure, with agglutinative morphology that allows for complex word formations. Tamil
10100-451: Was the emergence of the present tense. The present tense evolved out of the verb kil ( கில் ), meaning "to be possible" or "to befall". In Old Tamil, this verb was used as an aspect marker to indicate that an action was micro-durative, non-sustained or non-lasting, usually in combination with a time marker such as ṉ ( ன் ). In Middle Tamil, this usage evolved into a present tense marker – kiṉṟa ( கின்ற ) – which combined
10201-436: Was worn as a symbol of respect by the king to the soldiers who lay down their lives for him in war without any hesitation. Later Chhatrpati Shivaji Maharaj was gifted with a Kidaari during his conquest to Tamil Nadu. A specific type of dagger might have been designed for this, as maustika is described vaguely as a "fist dagger" in the arsenal list of Abu'l-Fazl ibn Mubarak . One of the most famous groups of early katar come from
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