Shastars

[Guest shastr]

(maybe we could make this thread a sticky and turn it into a shastar info thread)

khalsa ji, was wondering, where is a good place to get hand made shastars from in punjab? im talking about high quality sarbloh shastars. looking to get a pesh kbaz and katar. maybe some others too

also the price ranges for them in rupees would be appreciated

[Singh559]

http://www.sikhsangat.com/index.php?/topic/52387-need-to-find-a-good-blacksmith-in-punjab/

I made a similar topic, if you find anything let me know if no one else posts here.

[Yoga Flame]

Im looking for a small pesh kabz or any small dagger type of shaster let me know where i can find one for a reasonable price. (Preferably cheap though lol)

[Guest shastr]

bump!

there has to be somebody on this board who knows where to get nice shatars.

[Laadli Fauj]

dal baba bidhi chand de singh make really nice tulwaars, you can catch them at sursingh, about 20km from amritsar

not sure if it is still going, but there used to be a buddha dal shastar factory in patiala. if you run into any chardi kala lookin nihang singhs or taksali singhs ask them for specifics

also a singh in mai seva bajaar in amritsar who makes nice new shastar.

[Singh559]

I'm going to be going to Punjab on the 23rd of May after my Uni final exams are complete, I have a friend who's going in a week. He knows of very, very high quality shastar in Patiala.

I can ask him for approximate location, also look at these two threads for more information that was posted in general. I don't know if this is the same location of the person my friend was talking about, I shall get back to you on this.

http://www.sikhsanga...ab/page__st__12

I do not know about the security check but if u want good shasters go to Patiala Damdami taksal stall near dukhnivaran shaiab and shop adjoining the taksal shop u will find excellent kirpans that person shows a customer difference between real and duplicate metal apart from these u should go to shaidi bagidhi near buddha dal school for sarbloh Sri shaiab although near dukhnivaran shaiab u can get same shaters. Near motibagh gurdwara siklighar singhs sells good shasters. In Amritsar same shaters from patiala r sold on high rates in Amritsar u can rarely get good handmade Kirpans. If u want to buy chinese shaters there is elderly singh stall near jallianbagh where u can get chinese made kirpans at half rate as he is main distributer to whole state.

Gur fateh

It is just 15 or 10 mintues distance to bus stand if u go to Dukhniwaran shaiab just outside Gurdwara shaiab near the STD booth there is Damdami taksal stall and before that another shop these people sell the kirpan starting at 350 rupees to 1500 but if u want to buy as a weapon u can get good tegha at 700 rupees at the most u can reduce to 50 rupees after bargaining these same shasters r sold 1200 to 20,000 even some more costly at other places do not tell u r NRI .Motobagh gurdwara is litle far away sho no b-21/511 nabha gate sells good shasters but at more prices at shahidi bagh u can get buddha dal teghas at 700 rupees I hope u could have visited Anandpur Shaib hola mohalla kirpans a strating at 600 to 900 rupees I found were the best ever I have ever seen.gurfateh

[Singh559]

Sorry for the bump but i ended up going to Punjab and went to the exact places mentioned (the one close to Dukh Niwaran). I didn't even remember or refer to those posts. Just ended up there haha, i guess it's a popular spot.

There are a lot of chore (thieves) who sell shastar. Even at Dukhniwaran, at one shop i asked the price for a kamani katar and next door i asked for the same exact one and it was less than half the price...

Anyways, we went to a person's house who had a lot of old shastar, but i didn't get a good feeling from the owner at all. He was an elderly fellow who previously made shastar...Anywyas, the shastar he owned were superb, the only downside was the cheapest shaster (the katars) were 12,000 rupees each. I know I could have found a similar one for 1/4th the price. He had a taal from Jahangir's time which he was asking 150,000 rupees for. A khanda which was 55,000 rupees.

My main concern was after we said the prices were a bit too high for us he replied, "Goray auke shastar kharide a, amreeka laijake kandan te rakhde a". These were shastar that were used by Sikhs and somehow he got them from a killla (fort), the means of which he retrieved them are unknown.

That wasn't a dead end though, I found a nice puritan shastar from patiala. Towards the last week of my stay in Punjab I was getting a case made for my dhol (an atta peepa haha) so it wouldn't get damaged. On the way back I saw a Nihung Singh riding a cycle and I spotted an oldd katar from quite a distance. I quickly asked my mama ji to stop the motorcycle and approach the Nihung Singh. We asked him about the katar and he made it clear he wouldn't part with it, but he was happy to see a Sikh from abroad was interested so he told the history of how he got it (for 300 rupees). An acquaintance gave it to him because he was going for a job interview and couldnt' wear his bana anymore. Towards the end of the conversation we asked where we could find old shastar and he told us a location within Bathinda (where i stayed for 2 1/2 months) where a Singh makes shastar at his house and keeps old shastar.

Well we went there and he was so nice and happy to see that there Sikhs interested in shastar. He showed his entire room with all his old shastar and shastar that he made by himself. He told us stories of how he used to make shastar within the Harmandir Sahib complex and he knew jathedars. He went from telling what exactly fallaud was made of and the significance of the different dots on the old shastar were. Oh yeah, he also still makes fallaud shastar. Now a days if you ask someone where you can get a fallaud shastar made, they will tell you no one makes them anymore. All in all talking with this Singh was my best experience. I didn't buy any shastar from him that time because I had already bought 6 shastar and any more would become a weight issue.

Here's a picture of the fallaud puritan shastar that I found:

(I have no idea what the price range or a rough estimate of how old it is, all i know is that it's not for sale )

-----

--

--

--

[Mahakal]

Register yourselves at www.shasterkhajana.com

[Singh559]

Register yourselves at www.shasterkhajana.com

I did, can someone reply to my question on the website please. I'd really appreciate it.

[gurdssingh]

You had a lucky escape as you nearly got played. He knew you were 'bharooh' / NRI. So he must have multiplied the price 4 fold. His reply says it all.

My main concern was after we said the prices were a bit too high for us he replied, "Goray auke shastar kharide a, amreeka laijake kandan te rakhde a".

You should off just showed the guy a ridiculous offer in cash he says no, but he now knows there is room for manouvere, and you aint a muppet. Then negotiate a reasonable price which you both are happy with. TRUST ME in India they will say NAI PAA JI till they blue in the face, when you let them know you aint a mug and walk off after qouting a resonable price they will literally grab you out off your car and entice you back to make the deal.

in India sab se barha rupaiya. (actually i think thats everywhere really, it's just in the west the average joe is a bit more honest.)