Chakram

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Sikhs with chakrams, inscribed "Nihang Abchal Nagar" (Nihangs from Hazur Sahib), 1844

The chakram is a throwing weapon that was used by the ancient Indians; it is a flat metal ring with a sharp outer edge from 5 to 12 inches in diameter.

The word comes from Sanskrit and means round, circle, or wheel. Earliest references come from Ramayana and Mahabharata epics (here the Sudarśana chakram is the weapon of the god Vishnu). It was used by Indian armies, mostly by Sikhs.

It has an effective range of 40 to 50 meters. Because of its aerodynamic shape (similar to an aeroplane wing) it is not easily deflected by wind.

Movie, Television, and Entertainment

• Disks are used as weapons in the movie Tron.
• The chakram is featured heavily in the television series [[Xena: Warrior Princess]], as the signature weapon of the title character.
• The character Django in the anime One Piece also uses the chakram.
• Oddjob from the James Bond movie Goldfinger uses a chakram-like hat.
• In the movie Predator 2 the Predator has a laser guided Chakram-like weapon
• Razor-sharp plates are used for self-defense in Stephen King's Wolves of the Calla.
• A chakram weapon is featured in the video game Secret of Mana.
• In [[Castlevania: Symphony of the Night]] and [[Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow]], a chakram is dropped by the enemies Discus Lord and Amalaric Sniper, respectively.
• In the video game [[Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem]] chakrams are a usable weapon in one level.
• Colette Brunel of the video game Tales of Symphonia fights with two chakrams. She also uses them as melee weapons.
• The character Axel from the Kingdom Hearts series uses two fire-based chakrams for his weapons, mostly as melee weapons.
• Chrakram are throwing weapons that return to the thrower like a boomerang in the computer game [[Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura]].
• Kung Lao from the Mortal Kombat series has a razor-rimmed hat that can be used as a chakram.
• The reploid Marino can obtain beam chakrams in the video game [[Mega Man X: Command Mission]].
• Sun Shang Xiang uses two Chakrams in the game series Dynasty Warriors. In the game, she has five moves in which she throws them a very short distance.
• The Chakram is used in Baten Kaitos by the character Mizuti. Sorcerer's Chakram is one of the attacks that is based on Mizuti's single chakram.
• In Warcraft 3, the Warden, a Night Elf hero, uses a chakram-like serratted ring-blade (as a melee weapon, not throwing).
• In the [[Turok 2: Seeds of Evil]] videogame, the Razorwind weapon is a kind of cybernetic alien chakram, and one of if not the most powerful weapons.
• In Guild Wars, the Chakram is one of the off-hand weapons usable by the Mesmer class and one of the daggers used by the Assassin Class in [[Guild Wars: Factions]]
• In Threads of Fate, the character Mint uses a pair of chakrams.
• Sailor Moon uses her tiara as a chakram-like weapon in the popular anime series bearing the same name.
• In the manga series Berserk, the character Silat wields chakrams among other weapons of Indian origin.
• Sen of Saturday, the armor piloted by Melissa, in the anime Gun X Sword has the chakram as the main weapon and it is also the armors weapon form.
• The character Yakushiji Tenzen uses two Chakram in the 2005 movie SHINOBI Heart Under Blade.
• The character Tira in the video game Soul Calibur 3 wields an oversized Chakram.
• The character Tio in the video game Grandia II attacks using dual Chakrams.
• In Greg Cox's novel, The Eugenics Wars, Khan Noonien Singh rescues Gary Seven from Colonel Anastasia Komananov using chakrams.
• In an RPG video game named Nox (computer game), the Chakram was a useful ranging equipment that ricochets between the walls and targets and supposedly returns back to the user.
• In the game Full Metal Alchemist and the Broken Angel, Edward Elric has the ability to transmute and modify chakrams and use them as a weapon.
• In the video game suikoden 4 one of the characters named akaghi uses a chakram as a melee weapon, and in suikoden 5 two characters named sialeeds and sharmitsa use a boomerang type of chakram as a weapon.
• In the video game "[[Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean]]", The Great Mizuti uses a single chakram as a melee weapon, aside from her spells.
• On the televison show Ben 10 in the episode tough luck a new enemy named charmcaster, takes a few ring chakrams out of her bag and throws them at ben, later on she transforms one of her chakrams into a huge chakram and uses it to almost run over ben's grandpa.

External links

• [Details of chakram history and use]
• [History of chakram]

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