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Akali Sikhs
"After
luncheon the Major took us to Jind, and there we saw a series
of strange gentlemen. Sikhs they were, most of them dressed
in blue, and bearing war implements and steel rings. They
had circles of steel round their necks, similar circles
round their turbans. At first it was a puzzle to me why
they should carry these hoops; they were flat like quoits,
had a sharp knife-edge, and appeared in the most unexpected
places - round the neck, round the waist, and on their turbans.
Were they worn for decorative reasons? I discovered that
the hoops were used simply as implements of war. They are
deadly weapons. The Sikhs throw them at their enemies, hurl
them along edgeways as you would a quoit, and cut off heads
as easily as you would slice a lemon." -
The Durbar, Mortimer Menpes
(1903)
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