A curved variant of the kindjal — also called the qama or khanjali — the straight-bladed dagger-sword of the Caucasus that became a requisite dress accessory across Georgia, Circassia, and Dagestan by the mid-19th century, and was adopted by Don Cossacks alongside their shashka sabres.
The kindjal, known regionally as the qama, khanjali, or kama, developed across the Caucasus — Georgia, Dagestan, Chechnya, Circassia, and Ossetia — with the classic form emerging in the 18th century from earlier straight-dagger traditions. By the mid-1800s it had become a requisite dress accessory for men across the region, worn angled at the front of the belt, with the finest examples richly decorated in niello-inlaid silver. Don Cossacks adopted the kindjal from their Circassian neighbours, carrying it as a secondary blade alongside their shashka sabres, and the blade was celebrated in verse by Russian poets including Alexander Pushkin and Mikhail Lermontov.
Deepeeka’s reproduction offers a curved variant inspired by this Caucasian tradition, part of our Russian and Cossack heritage range.
Use for:
- Caucasian and Cossack living history
- Museum-style display on a wall mount or stand
- Caucasus-themed home decor and collections
- Historical events and living history fairs
- Film and theatre productions set in the Caucasus or Imperial Russia
- Collectors of Caucasian and Cossack edged tools
