Chakram

Chakram
Sikhs with chakrams, inscribed "Nihang Abchal Nagar" (Nihang from Hazur Sahib), 1844
Type	Circle
Place of origin	India

The chakram (Devanāgarī: चक्रं; Punjabi: chakkar; Malay: cakeram) is a throwing weapon from India. It is circular in shape with a sharpened outer edge and ranges in size from approximately 12–30 centimetres (4.7–11.8 in) in diameter. It is also known as chalikar‌ meaning "circle", and was sometimes referred to in English writings as a "war-quoit". The chakram is primarily a throwing weapon but can also be used hand-to-hand. A smaller variant called chakri was worn on the wrist. A related weapon is the chakri dang, a bamboo staff with a chakri attached at one end.

Earliest references to the chakram come from the Indian epics Mahabharata and Ramayana where the Sudarshana Chakra is the weapon of the god Vishnu and from the contemporaneous early Tamil poems (2nd century BCE-2nd century CE) or it is an actual weapon called the Thikiri (Tamil திகிரி) in the hands of kings and chieftains. Chakradhaari ("chakram-wielder," or simply "circle-man") is a name for Krishna. The chakram was later used extensively by the Sikhs as recently as the days of Ranjit Singh. It came to be associated with Sikhs because of the Nihang practice of wearing chakram on their arms, around the neck and even tied in tiers on high turbans. The Portuguese chronicler Duarte Barbosa writes (c. 1516) of the chakram being used in the Delhi Sultanate.‌

The people of the kingdom ... are very good fighting men and good knights, armed with many kinds of weapons; they are great bowmen, and very strong men; they have very good lances, swords, daggers, steel maces, and battle-axes, with which they fight; and they have some steel wheels,which they call chakarani, two fingers broad, sharp outside like knives, and without edge inside; and the surface of these is of the size of a small plate. And they carry seven or eight of these each, put on the left arm; and they take one and put it on the finger of the right hand, and make it spin round many times, and so they hurl it at their enemies, and if they hit anyone on the arm or leg or neck, it cuts through all. And with these they carry on much fighting, and are very dexterous with them.