WAGH NAKH

• Literally ‘tiger claws’, the wagh nakh is a mediaeval claw-like dagger which was used across the Indian subcontinent.
• Designed to either fit over the knuckles or be concealed under the palm, the weapon consisted of four or five curved blades affixed to a glove or a bar of some kind.
• It was a weapon used for personal defence or stealth attack, and could easily slice through skin and flesh
• The most famous use of the wagh nakh in history comes from the story of Afzal Khan’s killing by Shivaji

• Khan was a general of Bijapur’s Adil Shahi Sultanate. According to legend, he was a fierce warrior and stood over 7 feet tall.
• After subjugating restive fiefs in the Sultanate’s southern regions, he was ordered to bring Shivaji to heel.
• Shivaji used to be a former vassal of the Adil Shahis but by the 1650s, he had become increasingly assertive, taking forts across the Konkan, and bringing under control large swathes of Adil Shahi territory.
• Given Afzal Khan’s success in the south, he was sent by the Sultan, with a mighty army, to subdue the Maratha icon.
• Khan marched into the Konkan and demanded a meeting with Shivaji. He said that the two should speak, one-on-one, in order to avoid unnecessary bloodshed and settle the issue. But Shivaji smelled treachery.
• Thus he went prepared to the meeting, wearing a chainmail under his robes and hiding a wagh nakh in his sleeve.

• According to the Victoria and Albert Museum’s website, the weapon was brought to Britain by East India Company officer James Grant Duff (1789- 1858).
• Duff was the Company Resident (political agent) of the Satara State from 1818-22.
• He was also an amateur historian himself, writing the highly influential A History of the Mahrattas (1826), a three-volume work that is cited till date
• Duff got a fitted case made for his novelty weapon upon returning to Scotland.
• The case has the following inscription upon it: “The ‘Wagnuck’ of Sivajee With Which He Killed the Moghul General. This Relic was given to Mr. James Grant-Duff of Eden When he was Resident at Satara By the Prime Minister of the Peshwa of the Marathas.”
• The last Peshwa (Prime Minister) of the Marathas, Baji Rao II, surrendered to the British in June 1818 after defeat in the Third Anglo-Maratha War.
• He was banished to Bithoor near Kanpur. It is possible he surrendered this weapon to Grant Duff.