Well for one it isn't called a "Chakra." Chakra is the sanskrit work for circle, and is the word that chakram (the Sikh throwing disc) and this were both named for. The real name of this weapon is "Vadda Chakar" meaning big wheel. It was called big wheel not becaue sikhs like to use them while riding tricycles, but because it is a small circle (the hilt) with ropes coming out if it and when spun it looked like a large wagon wheel. I've never seen a netted vadda chakar before, nice find! You can find a little more information at the sikh wiki. In their article they claim that vadda chakar were once bladed, but take that with a grain of salt. Most evidence points to them being more like a bola than anything else.

asemery wrote on Dec 10^th, 2010 at 5:40pm:

Spelling isn't very important and these weapons have different names in different Indian languages, the sikhwiki calls he throwing discs "chakkar" instead of chakram. The only word that could be incorrect for either weapon is chakra, lol. It's kind of funny that they used that word for the vadda chakar, unless it was a typo.