"An incredible skill in the art of strangulation"

[DdlR]

http://www.bartitsu.org/index.php/20...-punjab-lasso/

New article on the Bartitsu Society website concerning the infamous "Punjab lasso" (the signature weapon of the Phantom of the Opera), with sideways glances at Indian Thuggee assassins and French street gangsters.

[Fuzzy]

This is very interesting.

Coincidentally I'm currently reading Glen Cook's Black Company series which features a cult of assassins who use a strangling scarf or "Rumel".

I wonder how similar the techniques would be to Silat's use of the Sarong.

[SteveM]

Nice article. To be able to actually throw it and have it wrap around a neck the scarf would have to be weighted a both ends like a bolo, right? Or are we suggesting it wasn't thrown but rather swung with one weighted end?

[DdlR]

This is very interesting.

Coincidentally I'm currently reading Glen Cook's Black Company series which features a cult of assassins who use a strangling scarf or "Rumel".

I wonder how similar the techniques would be to Silat's use of the Sarong.

Hard to say. I've never seen much historical technical description of Thuggee tactics, beyond distracting a victim and then strangling him while your two buddies help hold him down. The "weighted cord" method at least implies some sort of skilled attack, though.

I'm still holding out to see the silat sarong applied in sparring ...

[DdlR]

Nice article. To be able to actually throw it and have it wrap around a neck the scarf would have to be weighted a both ends like a bolo, right? Or are we suggesting it wasn't thrown but rather swung with one weighted end?

That's what I get from the descriptions; there's a noose at one end that wraps around the operator's wrist, allowing him to swing the weight at the other end.

[TheMightyMcClaw]

Hard to say. I've never seen much historical technical description of Thuggee tactics, beyond distracting a victim and then strangling him while your two buddies help hold him down. The "weighted cord" method at least implies some sort of skilled attack, though.

I'm still holding out to see the silat sarong applied in sparring ...

You may have a long wait ahead of you; I've been holding out see any kind of Silat applied in sparring for some time now.
Good read, though.