Chakram

The chakram is a flat, sharp-edged throwing weapon originating on the Indian subcontinent, a metal ring roughly twelve to thirty centimeters across and weighing some two hundred to four hundred grams, its outer rim ground to a cutting edge and its name derived from the Sanskrit word for circle. European colonial writers who encountered the weapon in India called it a battle quoit or war quoit for its resemblance to the throwing rings used in that game, and it could be thrown to slash at a distant target or worn stacked on the arm or a tall conical turban for ready use in close combat. The chakram became especially associated with the Sikh warrior tradition of northern India from the era of the Sikh Khalsa onward, where Sikh soldiers were frequently depicted and described carrying multiple chakrams as part of their martial equipment and religious symbolism alongside their other traditional weapons.