Sqay (Kashmiri Sword and Shield)
The Kashmiri art of the tora sword and bargula shield; its documented history begins with the revival of the 1980s.
Quick Facts
IndiaCharacter & Origin
Training
Organisation & Competition
What the style is built from
Editorial rating on a 0–3 scale, based on how much room each area gets in ordinary training.
About Sqay (Kashmiri Sword and Shield)
Sqay is the Kashmiri martial art of the sword and shield. The weapons are called tora, a curved sword, and bargula, a small shield; besides the armed part the system also has unarmed practice with strikes, kicks, locks and takedowns. In competition a softened sword and protective equipment are used and points are awarded for hits to defined target areas, so the discipline works much like sport fencing or point kickboxing. There is a dispute about the age of sqay that this page does not hide: its promoters trace it to old Kashmiri war traditions, but the documented history begins only with the revival of the 1980s, led by the Kashmiri master Nazir Ahmad Mir. He organised sqay, wrote down its rules and spread it by demonstrating abroad; an international governing body grew out of his work. No written or material evidence for the earlier dating is available, and this page therefore gives no year of origin. In India sqay now has the standing of a recognised sport: it is taught in schools, above all in Jammu and Kashmir, and in 2023 it was included among the disciplines of the national Games. Besides India it is practised in Pakistan and in several other Asian countries, and it appears more and more often as a school self-defence programme for girls.
Similar styles
Selected by overlap in the style profile, not by historical lineage.