Pari and khmali
Also known as: pari, khmali
Pari, a flat round buckler, and khmali, a single-edged sword, held together by Chevsur fencers of the Georgian mountains, sword hand hidden behind the shield.
Quick Facts
GeorgiaAbout the weapon
Pari is the flat round buckler and khmali the sword of Chevsur fencing, the highlander combat tradition of Georgian Khevsureti. Both weapons were used together. Chevsur men wore mail armor and were armed with broad swords; kings often took bodyguards from among them. The Russian ethnographer Arnold Zisserman promoted the view that they descended from the last European crusaders; this theory is refuted and Georgian scholars unanimously reject it. The pari is made of metal or of leather reinforced with several layers of metal and has a diameter of about 28 cm. It is held by wrapped leather straps, the knuckles flat against the back of the shield, as when striking with a fist. The khmali has a straight or slightly curved single-edged blade, a cross hilt, and a downward-sloping pommel, and usually measures 80 to 90 cm. The most distinctive feature of Chevsur fencing is keeping the hands close together: the sword hand is always hidden behind the buckler. The Chevsurs distinguished three levels of combat, from friendly bout to war: parikaoba, chra-chriloba, and lashkroba. They decorated their clothing with crosses and icons meant to protect them, and carried banners with crosses into battle. Under Stalin the Chevsurs were resettled; since the 1990s, the remaining knowledge has been collected and passed on. We know the details of both weapons and the technique only from a single article; we have not found them in encyclopedic sources.
Related weapons
- Used together with: Dashna