The land of the Khevsur
Khevsureti, the land of the Khevsur people, is located high in the Caucasus Mountains in Eastern Georgia. The region consists largely of the Migmakhevi, Shatili, Arkhoti and the Aragvi river valleys and the slopes surrounding them. One important thing to note is that this region lies along the border with modern Chechnia, and historically, in the manner of highlanders the world round, the Khevsur and Chechens raided back and forth along the mountains stealing each other's livestock.

The Khevsur People
The Khevsur are a subgroup of the Georgian or Kartvelian people who speak the Georgian language and have been part of the modern nation of Georgia since the beginning. However, they are unusual in that they never had any feudal lord ruling them, but instead owed their allegiance directly to the Georgian monarch, electing leaders for the region and relying heavily on councils of elders to guide them. Khevsurs often served as bodyguards to the reigning Georgian monarch, and saw protecting their section of border as a duty of their people.

Simply Put Kartuli Parikaoba translates to English as "Georgian Fencing"  Georgia as a nation has many native forms of martial arts.  While perhaps the most well known is the Georgian jacket wrestling style known to most as Chidaoba, parts of Georgia managed to preserve traditional weapons forms into the 20th century.  One major focus for this site is the Sword and buckler fighting of the Highland Khevsur villages.  This was not only preserved in use into the 20th century, but documented by V. I Elashvili in his book "Parikaoba".  We will be posting our translation of his text bit by bit here for common reference, along with modern pictures, commentary, videos and so forth.  The goal is for this site to form the nucleus of a community dedicated to Georgian fencing within the larger HEMA and WMA communities.