WEBVTT - Chakram: Spinning Death in Myth, War & Physics 0:00:00.040 --> 0:00:01.680 Are you a Stuff to Blow your Mind fan? Are 0:00:01.680 --> 0:00:03.880 you a New Yorker? Do you plan to attend this 0:00:03.960 --> 0:00:06.800 year's New York Comic Con. If so, then you've got 0:00:06.800 --> 0:00:10.639 to check out our exclusive live show NYCC presents Stuff 0:00:10.640 --> 0:00:14.000 to Blow Your Mind Live Stranger Science. Join all three 0:00:14.080 --> 0:00:16.880 of us as we record a live podcast about the 0:00:16.920 --> 0:00:21.640 exciting science and tantalizing pseudo science underlying the hit Netflix 0:00:21.640 --> 0:00:25.840 show Stranger Things. It all goes down Friday, October six 0:00:26.239 --> 0:00:29.240 from seven pm to eight thirty pm at the Hudson 0:00:29.280 --> 0:00:32.279 Mercantile in Manhattan. Stuff you missed in history class has 0:00:32.280 --> 0:00:34.920 a show right before us, so you can really double down, 0:00:35.080 --> 0:00:37.920 learn more and buy your tickets today at New York 0:00:37.920 --> 0:00:45.760 Comic Con dot com slash NYCC hyphen presents Welcome to 0:00:46.080 --> 0:00:55.080 Stuff to Blow Your Mind from How Stuff Works dot com. 0:00:55.120 --> 0:00:56.880 Hey you, welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind. My 0:00:56.960 --> 0:00:59.760 name is Robert Lamb and I am Christian, sacred Christian. 0:00:59.800 --> 0:01:01.480 I have a question for you. I know that that 0:01:01.520 --> 0:01:05.520 you also consume a lot of fictional media that has uh, 0:01:06.040 --> 0:01:09.480 you know, different crazy fight scenes, crazy weapons. What is 0:01:09.520 --> 0:01:15.640 the most appealing yet seemingly unrealistic weapon you've encountered before 0:01:15.680 --> 0:01:18.119 in your and you're you're reading and your viewing. Oh. 0:01:18.160 --> 0:01:21.200 I can answer this very easily because it's it was 0:01:21.240 --> 0:01:23.280 a movie that was super influential on me. It's actually 0:01:23.280 --> 0:01:27.880 a series of movies the Umbrella because um yeah, I 0:01:27.920 --> 0:01:29.960 talked about this on the show before. Because I grew 0:01:30.000 --> 0:01:32.000 up overseas, I ended up watching a lot of woosh 0:01:32.080 --> 0:01:34.679 yaw kind of kung fu movies when I was a kid. 0:01:35.120 --> 0:01:38.360 And there's a series that Jet Lee was in in 0:01:38.400 --> 0:01:41.200 the early nineties late eighties called Once Upon a Time 0:01:41.200 --> 0:01:45.640 in China, and he plays this legendary Chinese uh character 0:01:46.000 --> 0:01:48.040 who I think it's a real person, but it's also 0:01:48.480 --> 0:01:52.880 ostensibly argued that these movies are like history revisionist. Anyways, 0:01:53.200 --> 0:01:56.520 this guy fights with an umbrella. That's his penguin style. 0:01:56.920 --> 0:01:59.800 He like he uses the umbrella as like a defensive 0:01:59.840 --> 0:02:02.440 thing against swords and other stuff like that. But then 0:02:02.480 --> 0:02:04.680 he will also like occasionally open it up and like 0:02:04.760 --> 0:02:07.560 spin it to kind of like distract his enemy as well. 0:02:07.600 --> 0:02:10.799 He does like backflips and stuff. I I love those 0:02:10.840 --> 0:02:13.799 movies so much that I actually got artist Kegan McLeod 0:02:13.880 --> 0:02:19.280 to do a commission for me of this character that 0:02:19.400 --> 0:02:22.320 Jetley played with the umbrella and everything. Well, you know, 0:02:22.720 --> 0:02:25.680 an example that comes to my mind is another weapon 0:02:25.720 --> 0:02:28.040 that shows up pin Hong Kong action films, and that's 0:02:28.120 --> 0:02:31.480 the flying guillotine. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, that's totally 0:02:31.520 --> 0:02:33.079 in these as well. Yeah, which is kind of like 0:02:33.240 --> 0:02:34.640 if you haven't you really have to need to look 0:02:34.720 --> 0:02:36.320 up a clip of it to know what I'm talking about. 0:02:36.320 --> 0:02:40.120 But it's essentially kind of a bladed ring that's also 0:02:40.160 --> 0:02:42.440 made into a hat and it's attached to a string 0:02:42.760 --> 0:02:44.400 and you kind of zip it around the room and 0:02:44.440 --> 0:02:46.520 try and make it land on your opponent's head and 0:02:46.560 --> 0:02:49.959 then you pull, you pull the string to decapitate it. Yeah, 0:02:50.000 --> 0:02:52.519 it's like the I don't know if there's any realism 0:02:52.560 --> 0:02:56.600 to that weapon at all, but it's like the vorpal ring, right, 0:02:56.639 --> 0:02:59.440 because you just instantly kill these people if it works 0:02:59.440 --> 0:03:01.920 the way it's right, I think it's pretty it's it's 0:03:01.960 --> 0:03:05.160 pretty clearly established. It's just like a folkloric weapon and 0:03:05.200 --> 0:03:07.680 a weapon of fiction because it's just far too elaborate 0:03:07.680 --> 0:03:10.600 and specialized to to really be all that that useful 0:03:10.639 --> 0:03:13.240 in a fight. Yeah, but there is a weapon that 0:03:13.400 --> 0:03:16.480 is very close to that actually, and a lot of 0:03:16.480 --> 0:03:20.799 people will recognize this weapon from an odd source you 0:03:20.840 --> 0:03:22.840 would think coming from us. Well, I don't know. I 0:03:22.840 --> 0:03:24.520 guess I watched a few episodes of this back in 0:03:24.520 --> 0:03:28.919 the day. But Zena Warrior Princess, Yes, yes, Zeno Warrior 0:03:28.919 --> 0:03:32.160 Princess stuff, which is itself as spinoff of what Hercules 0:03:32.240 --> 0:03:34.400 the legendary journeys is that right? I never knew that. 0:03:34.440 --> 0:03:37.160 I always thought of Zena as being a bigger than 0:03:37.200 --> 0:03:40.560 that show. Well, she became bigger because I mean Hercules 0:03:40.600 --> 0:03:42.960 I think was fun for the time, but Zena became 0:03:43.280 --> 0:03:47.200 a true pop culture icon absolutely. You know, the strong 0:03:47.400 --> 0:03:50.960 female character and she's she's engaging in all of these 0:03:51.000 --> 0:03:53.800 these battles where she's on equal footing or even you know, 0:03:54.040 --> 0:03:58.440 superior footing against any adversary that darres a poser, and 0:03:58.520 --> 0:04:01.080 she fought with a sword. But she also had this 0:04:01.320 --> 0:04:06.040 really cool um sort of halo shaped, ring shaped, bladed 0:04:06.080 --> 0:04:09.520 wet weapon called a chakram. Yeah. Yeah, and in fact 0:04:09.680 --> 0:04:13.320 it's completely based in life and is a real thing. 0:04:13.880 --> 0:04:16.560 And we did our best to dig up as much 0:04:16.600 --> 0:04:19.240 research on this as we could because we thought this 0:04:19.320 --> 0:04:22.320 is such a bizarre weapon. You watched it in that 0:04:22.440 --> 0:04:24.320 and it shows like that, right, and she throws it 0:04:24.360 --> 0:04:26.400 around a room like Captain America throws a shield in 0:04:26.400 --> 0:04:29.279 it like kills like five people in one throw. Right, 0:04:29.480 --> 0:04:32.839 just com out completely unrealistic physics and and and a 0:04:32.920 --> 0:04:35.600 level of expertise with the weapon that just goes beyond 0:04:35.680 --> 0:04:39.120 what is humanly possible. So you you watch something like 0:04:39.160 --> 0:04:40.960 that and you think, well, this is this is just 0:04:41.320 --> 0:04:44.360 pure fantasy. But there is this actual weapon that we're 0:04:44.360 --> 0:04:46.200 gonna talk about today. We're gonna talk about it in 0:04:46.279 --> 0:04:50.600 terms of a little bit of mythology, uh, some military history, 0:04:50.680 --> 0:04:54.440 and then some aerodynamics. But you have this this chakram 0:04:54.600 --> 0:04:57.640 or shaker, and it is or sometimes just referred to 0:04:57.720 --> 0:05:00.400 as a as a chakra, and it is a razor 0:05:00.520 --> 0:05:04.080 sharp ring of metal designed to they sail through the 0:05:04.120 --> 0:05:08.000 air and deliver spinning death or at least you know, 0:05:08.240 --> 0:05:12.719 laceration or mutilation to your adversaries. Yeah, it's so I 0:05:12.760 --> 0:05:15.520 wish we could like put some JPEGs up for you 0:05:15.560 --> 0:05:18.200 all right now to try to give you a visual 0:05:18.279 --> 0:05:20.200 understanding if you haven't seen one of these before. But 0:05:20.240 --> 0:05:23.280 it's more like Halo than a disc, right, And we'll 0:05:23.320 --> 0:05:25.920 give you some pop culture examples other than zena. If 0:05:25.920 --> 0:05:28.080 you're unfamiliar with that, that maybe will help cement this 0:05:28.160 --> 0:05:30.400 for you. But it's essentially a death aeroby like if 0:05:30.400 --> 0:05:33.359 you're familiar with the aerobie the frisbee that has the 0:05:33.360 --> 0:05:35.920 center cut out of the metal, that's what we're talking about. 0:05:35.960 --> 0:05:39.039 Imagine one of those, but sharp on the outside. And 0:05:39.040 --> 0:05:40.880 there are a couple of different forms. So there was 0:05:40.920 --> 0:05:44.000 the che car sada and that is the version that 0:05:44.120 --> 0:05:47.120 was smooth and had a sharp outer layer like on 0:05:47.120 --> 0:05:50.320 its edge. But there was also the checkr cut of 0:05:50.480 --> 0:05:53.599 dar and that had a serrated outer edge. And actually, 0:05:53.640 --> 0:05:55.360 in some of the videos that we watched for this, 0:05:55.520 --> 0:05:57.040 I noticed that there are a few people who had 0:05:57.080 --> 0:06:00.359 the serrated ones. In particular, there was a deo I 0:06:00.440 --> 0:06:04.119 watched of like there's an actual um Seek weapons master 0:06:04.200 --> 0:06:07.599 who still practices the same martial arts forms and he 0:06:07.800 --> 0:06:10.480 was demonstrating how you use these and he had the 0:06:10.520 --> 0:06:13.839 serrated ones. Yeah, the the serrated one also has I 0:06:13.839 --> 0:06:16.360 think more of a tie in with with with Hindu 0:06:16.440 --> 0:06:19.080 mythology as well discussed. But before we get into that, 0:06:19.160 --> 0:06:23.400 let's let's talk a little bit more about pop culture. Um. Yeah, 0:06:23.560 --> 0:06:27.159 this seems to be a largely underutilized weapon in fiction, 0:06:27.320 --> 0:06:32.240 which is crazy considering how fantastic it is. I think 0:06:32.400 --> 0:06:35.800 other than Zena, probably the most recognized version that people 0:06:35.839 --> 0:06:38.760 would know it from is Tron. They had the second one, 0:06:38.920 --> 0:06:41.680 Tron Legacy. Yeah, not which not that many people actually 0:06:41.720 --> 0:06:45.479 went so but but so. Yeah, if you remember in 0:06:45.520 --> 0:06:47.640 the in Tron movies, they had the disks that they 0:06:47.640 --> 0:06:49.599 threw around in the discs also like had like what 0:06:49.720 --> 0:06:51.880 like the information of their personalities on them or yeah, 0:06:51.920 --> 0:06:55.000 their identity discs or I think sometimes referred to as 0:06:55.000 --> 0:06:57.719 the discs of Tron as in the old video game. 0:06:57.839 --> 0:06:59.960 But in Legacy, they would have these like battles where 0:07:00.000 --> 0:07:02.160 they would like each two people would face off with 0:07:02.200 --> 0:07:03.760 these things. They throw them around the room, they bounce 0:07:03.839 --> 0:07:06.240 off walls, and like eventually strike each other. Right, because 0:07:06.279 --> 0:07:08.360 it was essentially the Internet, right, you're just heating your 0:07:08.400 --> 0:07:13.200 identity at other people until somebody perishes. But in the 0:07:13.240 --> 0:07:14.880 first film it was more of a frisbee, and in 0:07:14.920 --> 0:07:16.880 the second film it was more of a roby or 0:07:16.960 --> 0:07:20.800 essentially a chakram. Yeah, yeah, exactly. So there's a couple 0:07:20.880 --> 0:07:24.920 other examples we have here, mainly from video games, it seems, Yeah, 0:07:25.000 --> 0:07:29.720 So one key example there is the hat that the 0:07:29.960 --> 0:07:33.960 Mortal Kombat character Kong Lao wears, and it it's a hat, 0:07:34.280 --> 0:07:36.720 but it is essentially a chockram, a shockram that's just 0:07:36.800 --> 0:07:39.200 kind of been perverted into a hat, I guess. And 0:07:39.200 --> 0:07:41.720 then he this character has a son in m k X, 0:07:42.360 --> 0:07:46.480 the most recent uh Mortal Kombat entry, and this uh, 0:07:46.560 --> 0:07:50.560 this character whose name is Kong Jin, he uses this 0:07:50.600 --> 0:07:52.880 is one of his weapons, but it's not his signature weapons, 0:07:52.880 --> 0:07:55.320 so it's not like his character defining weapon. It's like 0:07:55.360 --> 0:07:57.000 a special thing, like if you hit buttons in the 0:07:57.120 --> 0:07:59.200 right order, he'll whip one of these others. Yeah, it's 0:07:59.200 --> 0:08:01.920 just one of his many special attacks. So I feel 0:08:01.960 --> 0:08:05.120 like there's there was more potential there that too, to 0:08:05.280 --> 0:08:09.200 really claim the shock wonder if Zena just like dominated 0:08:09.720 --> 0:08:12.560 the chakram market, you know, I guess in the way 0:08:12.600 --> 0:08:14.600 that Wonder Woman. I mean, there are a lot of 0:08:14.680 --> 0:08:17.720 lassos with characters either you know, it's true. You know, 0:08:18.000 --> 0:08:20.000 it's kind of like cowboys came and owned it, and 0:08:20.080 --> 0:08:22.960 so anyone, and of course Wonder Woman. So everyone feels 0:08:22.960 --> 0:08:25.240 like if they have a lasso, they're just gonna echo 0:08:25.400 --> 0:08:27.440 cowboy movies or wonder wold. Yeah, but there is a 0:08:27.520 --> 0:08:32.280 fascinating uh physics to this weapon too, and I think 0:08:32.280 --> 0:08:34.360 it's it's actually really interesting when you see it in 0:08:34.480 --> 0:08:36.520 video game format too, because they have to sort of 0:08:36.559 --> 0:08:39.840 consider how the physics of the real world, like the 0:08:39.880 --> 0:08:42.640 math of the real world of throwing essentially a frisbee 0:08:42.679 --> 0:08:47.640 with blades that somebody would works three dimensional spaces. It's 0:08:47.679 --> 0:08:49.679 also as well, as we'll discuss when we get into 0:08:49.679 --> 0:08:52.920 the actual military history of the of the weapon, there's 0:08:52.960 --> 0:08:55.680 also a hula hoop element to it. So I would 0:08:55.679 --> 0:08:57.880 be remiss if I didn't point out that the two 0:08:57.920 --> 0:09:01.760 thousand five fighting games Sol Caliber three featured a female 0:09:01.800 --> 0:09:05.000 fighter named Tira who kind of dresses like a circus 0:09:05.240 --> 0:09:08.600 a performer, and she has a hoop shaped weapon that 0:09:08.720 --> 0:09:11.400 she uses and it it basically looks like a big 0:09:11.480 --> 0:09:13.959 hula hoop with blades, and she uses it like that, 0:09:14.200 --> 0:09:19.160 so it's kind of like an oversized chakram, but she's 0:09:19.200 --> 0:09:23.160 she's sort of employing it in ways that are reminiscent 0:09:23.400 --> 0:09:26.560 of the actual use of this weapon. So the wearing 0:09:26.640 --> 0:09:30.920 of these is actually based in fact. So uh, some 0:09:31.000 --> 0:09:34.079 of the ways that it was used was they were 0:09:34.120 --> 0:09:38.480 either worn over turbans, or they were sometimes worn around 0:09:38.480 --> 0:09:41.840 the neck, or a warrior would put like, you know, 0:09:41.920 --> 0:09:44.920 four or six of these across like their shoulder or 0:09:44.960 --> 0:09:46.920 something like that, so they could carry them into battle 0:09:46.920 --> 0:09:49.000 and have a bunch of them. Yeah, they're ready to 0:09:49.040 --> 0:09:52.480 go because they're they're you know, around your limbs. Now, 0:09:52.520 --> 0:09:55.360 of course, it's important to note here that there are 0:09:55.440 --> 0:10:00.560 other hoop shaped weapons or circular weapons uh in various cultures, 0:10:00.679 --> 0:10:05.040 but they don't necessarily spin. Now, there's some variations of 0:10:05.080 --> 0:10:09.120 the charuken or throwing star. Uh. You'll find some varieties 0:10:09.200 --> 0:10:14.080 that have a kind of mini chakram appearance, and likewise uh. 0:10:14.320 --> 0:10:18.720 In Chinese marshal art, there's the thing who oh loon, 0:10:19.040 --> 0:10:21.520 which is uh the this is known as that the 0:10:21.520 --> 0:10:24.680 wind and fire wheels, and these are circular in um 0:10:24.720 --> 0:10:26.400 in shape, but they're kind of but they don't spend 0:10:26.440 --> 0:10:28.360 and you just kind of grip them. They're like giant 0:10:28.440 --> 0:10:32.440 oversized circular bladed brass knuckles. Okay, And you asked me 0:10:32.480 --> 0:10:35.400 if there was any superhero comic book examples, and I 0:10:35.400 --> 0:10:37.000 couldn't think of any off the top of my head. 0:10:37.440 --> 0:10:39.400 I dug a little bit and the only thing I 0:10:39.400 --> 0:10:43.480 could find was Stanley created. Stanley in the last like 0:10:43.520 --> 0:10:46.080 twenty years has just created a ton of characters so 0:10:46.120 --> 0:10:49.160 that like different companies can say, like Stanley created such 0:10:49.200 --> 0:10:51.000 and such, and they do like four issues or whatever, 0:10:51.080 --> 0:10:54.120 and that's it. So he created this character that's like 0:10:54.160 --> 0:10:58.680 an Indian superhero named chakra Um and he appears to 0:10:58.880 --> 0:11:01.640 have I don't think wields these things, but he has 0:11:01.679 --> 0:11:04.920 like the symbolism of the chockrame, like in his costume 0:11:05.000 --> 0:11:07.439 and like in his his powers, like circles with sort 0:11:07.480 --> 0:11:10.640 of edges to them. And well, that's probably a good 0:11:10.880 --> 0:11:13.480 jumping off point to begin to get into the sort 0:11:13.520 --> 0:11:17.280 of mythological power all of the chakram and its use 0:11:17.360 --> 0:11:21.040 as a mythological weapon, because like like anything in that, 0:11:21.400 --> 0:11:24.840 you know, goes deep into Hindu mythology, like the thing 0:11:25.000 --> 0:11:28.120 becomes a symbol, and the symbol becomes an you know, 0:11:28.160 --> 0:11:33.360 another entity entirely kind of expands outward. Yeah. Absolutely, So 0:11:33.440 --> 0:11:36.920 it's first mentioned in the ancient Hindu text, the rig Veda, 0:11:37.480 --> 0:11:40.719 and in that it's described as glowing. So these are 0:11:40.800 --> 0:11:43.680 like glowing haloes that are thrown and I think sometimes 0:11:43.760 --> 0:11:48.320 there's a flaming element to Okay, okay. And then Vishnu, 0:11:48.559 --> 0:11:52.040 the you know famous figure. Uh, he had one a 0:11:52.160 --> 0:11:55.920 chok ram that was named sudar Shan chakra, and this 0:11:56.000 --> 0:11:59.680 means vision of that which is auspicious to do movement. 0:12:00.080 --> 0:12:04.120 So the weapon itself symbolized clearing of the path of 0:12:04.160 --> 0:12:08.040 God like there is a there's a strong religious symbolism 0:12:08.040 --> 0:12:10.520 to this weapon in the circular nature of it. Yeah, 0:12:10.559 --> 0:12:14.000 I also referred to as the s Shaanna Chakra, and 0:12:14.200 --> 0:12:19.640 it's said to have one eight serrated edges around it. Oh, okay, 0:12:20.080 --> 0:12:22.600 and so that one one oh eight is an important number, 0:12:22.760 --> 0:12:24.800 that that is a sacred number in in a few 0:12:24.800 --> 0:12:28.760 different Eastern traditions. Yes, now he It's worth noting that 0:12:28.800 --> 0:12:33.360 the villain Ravana who kidnaps Sita in the Ramayana, this 0:12:33.400 --> 0:12:37.360 guy has a boon against the weapon's power, so it's 0:12:37.559 --> 0:12:41.480 ineffective against him. But Vishnu uses the his chakra to 0:12:41.800 --> 0:12:46.040 decapitate a number of different adversaries. So there's Rahu, the 0:12:46.200 --> 0:12:49.880 the the the ashra that becomes the entity of the eclipse. 0:12:50.480 --> 0:12:55.120 He uses it against the Kashmiri king Damodara and against 0:12:55.160 --> 0:12:59.360 the water demon Jallowed Baba. And I found a real 0:12:59.440 --> 0:13:02.560 fun account of this slang of the water demon in 0:13:02.559 --> 0:13:06.600 which it said that the Suda Shaanna Chakra quote was 0:13:06.679 --> 0:13:11.520 so drunk on Johla Babda's blood that he had totally 0:13:11.679 --> 0:13:14.959 lost control over his senses and was wandering in all 0:13:15.000 --> 0:13:17.440 three worlds without knowing what he was doing. But he 0:13:17.440 --> 0:13:21.040 here being the web weapon itself, because because it's interesting 0:13:21.040 --> 0:13:25.199 when you start looking at interpretations of this, of this 0:13:25.240 --> 0:13:27.400 weapon this, and it's worth noting that it is a 0:13:27.400 --> 0:13:30.360 wonder weapon. It isn't It is one of the ostras, 0:13:30.360 --> 0:13:35.120 which are these these varying Just think like legendary sentient 0:13:35.240 --> 0:13:37.959 weapons from dungeons and dragons. That's what you have here. 0:13:38.840 --> 0:13:41.320 So it's one like the one ring, but much bigger 0:13:41.320 --> 0:13:43.040 and you throw it. Yeah, you have a god show 0:13:43.160 --> 0:13:45.040 up in the God in many cases will have this 0:13:45.120 --> 0:13:48.360 sacred weapon, and sometimes mortals get to interact with them 0:13:48.360 --> 0:13:52.319 to varying degrees. But then in the case of Vishnu's weapon, 0:13:52.440 --> 0:13:57.640 it becomes an entity, becomes anthropomorphized and becomes essentially it 0:13:57.640 --> 0:14:00.880 takes human form. Yeah. Well, I'm also thinking you just 0:14:00.920 --> 0:14:03.520 mentioned that it was connected to a god that is 0:14:03.559 --> 0:14:06.440 a god of the eclipse, and I'm thinking, like the 0:14:06.520 --> 0:14:10.280 way that the eclipse can look has a ring formation 0:14:10.360 --> 0:14:13.080 to it as well, or halo obviously, so that seems 0:14:13.120 --> 0:14:16.160 to make sense. Symbolism. Yeah, you can see why this 0:14:16.200 --> 0:14:21.280 would explode through throughout a culture's symbolism and their religious 0:14:21.400 --> 0:14:24.440 iconography because, I mean, circles are so key to to 0:14:24.680 --> 0:14:29.480 most religious traditions. I'm surprised with their recent solar eclipse 0:14:29.560 --> 0:14:32.400 that more people didn't get into shock rooms. Instead, everybody's 0:14:32.400 --> 0:14:35.160 got these like cheap sunglasses left over. Now, yeah, where 0:14:35.200 --> 0:14:38.560 was Aeroby? At least should have jumped in and said, hey, Arooby, 0:14:38.640 --> 0:14:41.160 where the we're the we're the official um, you know, 0:14:41.240 --> 0:14:44.480 recreational item of the eclipse. Yeah, it's perfect. It's easy 0:14:44.520 --> 0:14:47.960 to you know, to look at the myth here and 0:14:48.080 --> 0:14:50.880 uh and say, okay, well this is um this is 0:14:50.920 --> 0:14:55.240 clearly just an elaborate crazy weapon that a Hindu god 0:14:55.440 --> 0:15:00.320 uses and then zena warrior princess uses it. But surely no, buddy, 0:15:00.400 --> 0:15:03.920 is it's spinning around a mini hula hoop of death 0:15:04.080 --> 0:15:07.000 and using it against their adversaries and realistic combat. Because 0:15:07.520 --> 0:15:11.400 when you look at at weaponry across human culture, you 0:15:11.440 --> 0:15:15.480 do tend to see recurring motifs, right like and granted 0:15:15.520 --> 0:15:19.080 there there are many varieties and variations that take place, 0:15:19.120 --> 0:15:21.960 but still, like people are killing each other with swords, 0:15:22.000 --> 0:15:26.000 they're using spears, they're using clubs, they're they're slinging arrows 0:15:26.040 --> 0:15:29.280 at each other. Um. So it's it's kind of easy 0:15:29.360 --> 0:15:31.520 to just on the surface of things think that any 0:15:31.720 --> 0:15:37.400 weapon that elaborates beyond those basic forms is just something 0:15:37.720 --> 0:15:41.280 that someone dreamed up because it was fun. Yeah. Yeah, 0:15:41.560 --> 0:15:44.400 I think it's important to point out here too that 0:15:44.680 --> 0:15:46.840 the chack ram, at least the way that it was 0:15:46.880 --> 0:15:49.040 demonstrated in the research that we looked at, can be 0:15:49.080 --> 0:15:52.160 thrown in two ways. It can be thrown like a frisbee, obviously, 0:15:52.680 --> 0:15:55.360 but ideally the way you want to throw it is 0:15:55.440 --> 0:15:58.080 by spinning it around on your index finger with your 0:15:58.080 --> 0:16:00.800 finger in the center of the halo, because that's the 0:16:00.800 --> 0:16:04.480 part that's not sharp. And if you're doing it right, 0:16:04.600 --> 0:16:06.600 you can let it whip the way you would with 0:16:06.680 --> 0:16:10.480 like in a roby, and it will go far, quiet 0:16:10.920 --> 0:16:14.960 and in a straight line. And they the demonstrations I 0:16:15.000 --> 0:16:17.640 saw this thing like it is designed to cut through 0:16:17.680 --> 0:16:21.560 a human limb. Like there they have to quote daft 0:16:21.600 --> 0:16:25.760 punk or to miss to alter their quote. If you're 0:16:25.760 --> 0:16:28.760 doing it right, everybody will be bleeding. Ah, very nice, 0:16:28.880 --> 0:16:30.800 very nice. Yeah. I mean one of the demonstrations I 0:16:30.800 --> 0:16:34.960 saw this was they they looked at thick bamboo as 0:16:35.000 --> 0:16:38.400 being analogous to a human limb, and then they tested 0:16:38.440 --> 0:16:41.320 them against the bamboo and it cut right through. Yes. 0:16:41.360 --> 0:16:44.160 I saw some demonstrations with sugarcane, the idea being that 0:16:44.200 --> 0:16:48.720 sugarcane had the thick had basically the thickness of human bone, 0:16:49.120 --> 0:16:51.200 and therefore they would if it would cut through that, 0:16:51.240 --> 0:16:54.320 then it was up to snuff. Yeah. I can't imagine 0:16:54.360 --> 0:16:57.440 getting hit with one of these. Well, you know, let's 0:16:57.440 --> 0:16:59.280 take a quick break and when you come back, we 0:16:59.320 --> 0:17:02.320 will will get more in depth about the military history 0:17:02.400 --> 0:17:10.159 of the chakra. Alright, we're back. So, as we've already discussed, 0:17:10.160 --> 0:17:14.080 we know that the use of chakram's probably dates back 0:17:14.440 --> 0:17:17.840 to uh, you know, the time of the Hindu epic Mahabarata, 0:17:19.000 --> 0:17:22.600 because we see we read accounts of its use there 0:17:23.200 --> 0:17:26.719 now at times either some fantasy and its description like 0:17:26.760 --> 0:17:29.760 that it's returning like a boomerang uh and and that 0:17:29.840 --> 0:17:31.560 does not seem to be the case with the chakra 0:17:31.680 --> 0:17:33.440 as far as we know. The physics of that are 0:17:33.440 --> 0:17:36.280 not designed for it, right, you know, the same way again, 0:17:36.359 --> 0:17:39.520 like good luck throw in Captain America's shield and getting 0:17:39.520 --> 0:17:41.080 it to bounce back and come to you. Yes, and 0:17:41.119 --> 0:17:44.639 good luck catching a chakram, right, Yeah, nobody wants to 0:17:44.680 --> 0:17:47.720 catch a chakra. Yeah. But but but we know that 0:17:47.760 --> 0:17:50.560 it was used in in Vadic India. And we know 0:17:50.640 --> 0:17:53.840 this because it it became one of the primary SHOs 0:17:53.840 --> 0:17:57.840 stars or weapons of the ghatka, which is the seekh 0:17:57.960 --> 0:18:01.040 martial art. Okay, Yeah, and that's what I saw demonstrated 0:18:01.040 --> 0:18:03.960 in these videos with the martial artists who specialized in 0:18:04.000 --> 0:18:08.240 that form. Yeah. The Sikhs really became the I guess, 0:18:08.280 --> 0:18:11.359 the masters and the stewards of the chakram even into 0:18:11.400 --> 0:18:14.159 modern day. Let's actually, let's take a quick tangent and 0:18:14.280 --> 0:18:17.720 explain Sikhism if just in case there are people in 0:18:17.760 --> 0:18:20.080 the audience who are vaguely aware of it but don't 0:18:20.080 --> 0:18:22.879 really understand. You know, why, why would why would this 0:18:22.920 --> 0:18:25.200 religion have its own martial art for instance? Yeah, I 0:18:25.200 --> 0:18:27.800 think this is a great excuse to discuss Sikism a 0:18:27.840 --> 0:18:30.240 little bit, because Sikhism is a is a major world 0:18:30.280 --> 0:18:36.800 religion that is really I think under represented and often misunderstood. 0:18:37.520 --> 0:18:39.840 People will will see see because there's there are a 0:18:39.840 --> 0:18:42.480 lot of Seeks living internationally and not just in the 0:18:42.520 --> 0:18:45.760 you know, the Punjab region of India and uh and 0:18:45.760 --> 0:18:50.640 and sometimes they are confused with with with Muslims or 0:18:50.680 --> 0:18:53.480 with with with or people think that they are Hindu 0:18:53.680 --> 0:18:56.119 or or Buddhist and they don't really understand what what 0:18:56.240 --> 0:18:59.520 Sikhism is. Yeah. Absolutely so Again, like I grew up 0:18:59.520 --> 0:19:02.320 in Southeast Asia, A couple of the kids who went 0:19:02.359 --> 0:19:04.520 to our school where Seeks, some of our teachers were 0:19:04.520 --> 0:19:08.800 seek uh And then also like living in the northeast, 0:19:08.840 --> 0:19:11.560 there was a big Sikh community around the Boston area, 0:19:12.040 --> 0:19:14.359 and I remember right after nine eleven there was a 0:19:14.359 --> 0:19:17.800 lot of like consternation because essentially people who didn't know 0:19:17.800 --> 0:19:21.800 any better assumed Seeks were for some reason Muslim, I 0:19:21.800 --> 0:19:25.080 guess because they had beards and war turban war turban, 0:19:25.240 --> 0:19:30.280 and so there was like violence against the Sikh community. Yeah. So, 0:19:30.640 --> 0:19:33.320 just to just to lay out the basics, Sikhism is 0:19:33.400 --> 0:19:38.800 a monotheistic ethno religion that follows the teachings of Guru Nanak. 0:19:39.280 --> 0:19:42.119 This was a and and Sikism emerged in the Punjab 0:19:42.160 --> 0:19:46.760 region of northwestern India during the sixteenth century, and it's 0:19:46.800 --> 0:19:49.960 most notable to outsiders because a Sikh Man carry a 0:19:50.040 --> 0:19:54.520 ceremonial sword or dagger Uh, they's called a kurpan. But 0:19:54.720 --> 0:19:59.240 the chakram also factors into their traditions, sometimes worn and 0:19:59.440 --> 0:20:01.520 in their turn been or around the turban or in 0:20:01.560 --> 0:20:03.680 the past on a on a conical turban. Yeah, the 0:20:03.720 --> 0:20:07.440 warriors had specific turbans that they would wear in conjunction 0:20:07.480 --> 0:20:10.360 with the shock rams that were more cone like. Yeah. Now, 0:20:10.400 --> 0:20:13.000 the kurpon the wearing of the of the of the dagger, 0:20:13.119 --> 0:20:15.440 the sword, that's one of the what's called the five 0:20:15.560 --> 0:20:19.760 k's Uh. Each of these are are a practice or 0:20:19.800 --> 0:20:22.919 tradition that is symbolic of the seek faith, each in 0:20:22.960 --> 0:20:27.119 its own right. So you have kesh which is uncut hair, cara, 0:20:27.320 --> 0:20:32.000 a steel bracelet, conga a wooden comb uh, kotsha which 0:20:32.080 --> 0:20:37.400 is which is essentially a special form of cotton undergarment. 0:20:37.960 --> 0:20:41.920 And then there is the kirpon the steel sword or dagger. Now, 0:20:41.960 --> 0:20:45.000 the sword itself, the wearing of the weapon can stand 0:20:45.000 --> 0:20:48.960 for a number of different things. Spirituality, the soldier, part 0:20:49.040 --> 0:20:52.440 of soldier saints, defensive, good defense, of the week, struggle 0:20:52.440 --> 0:20:56.000 against injustice or a metaphor for God. Now this in 0:20:56.000 --> 0:20:58.200 a Seek faith. We're not gonna have time to really 0:20:58.200 --> 0:21:00.480 do a deep dive on it here, but it it 0:21:00.640 --> 0:21:03.720 basically centers around good works and the leading of a 0:21:03.840 --> 0:21:08.119 moral life. And there were ten gurus and all beginning 0:21:08.119 --> 0:21:10.879 with that that first guru Guru Nanak who founded it, 0:21:11.160 --> 0:21:15.639 and then you had the final guru, Guru Gobin Singh, 0:21:16.040 --> 0:21:19.159 who lives sixteen sixty six through seventeen o eight, and 0:21:19.200 --> 0:21:22.359 he decreed that after he died, the Seek Holy Book, 0:21:22.480 --> 0:21:27.160 the Guru Grand Sahd would serve as his successor instead 0:21:27.160 --> 0:21:31.159 of a human being. Interesting, that's very interesting, especially like 0:21:31.240 --> 0:21:35.920 in light of other religions and sort of uh, you know, viz. 0:21:36.040 --> 0:21:39.840 For power Game of Thrones over over religious power. I 0:21:39.880 --> 0:21:43.359 guess what I really find interesting about this, and especially 0:21:43.400 --> 0:21:45.600 what you were just saying about the sword, is the 0:21:45.600 --> 0:21:48.840 cultural symbolism here, right, because both the sword in the 0:21:48.920 --> 0:21:53.360 Chakram have symbolic meaning that's related to their religion, right, 0:21:53.800 --> 0:21:56.639 And uh, it's you know, you see this in in 0:21:56.720 --> 0:22:00.280 some Western forms, but usually in depictions, right, like a 0:22:00.320 --> 0:22:02.520 coat of arms or something will be the shape of 0:22:02.520 --> 0:22:04.399