Old Burmese Dha Dagger with Silver Sheath
…beautiful collection piece
Old Burmese Dha Dagger with Silver Sheath, a beautiful collection piece… Dha (also spelled dah) is the Burmese word for "knife" similar term to Daab (Thai:) in Thai language for a single edge sword. The term dha is conventionally used to refer to a wide variety of knives and swords used by many people across Southeast Asia, especially present-day Myanmar (Burma), Thailand, Yunnan, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam.
Krabi-krabongpractitioners with Thai daab
Sword dance of banshayperformed with a pair of dha
The broad use and diffusion of the dha across Southeast
Asia makes it difficult to attribute a definitive origin. The Burmese moved
into Southeast Asia from the northwest (present day India), passing
through Assam and Nagaland. The dha and its variants were
possibly derived from the Assamese and Naga dao, a broadsword used by both
the Assamese people and Naga people of northeast India for
digging as well as killing. The Naga weapon was a thick, heavy,
eighteen-inch long backsword with a bevel instead of a point, and this form of
blade is found on some dha.
Alternatively, the dha may have its origins with the Tai
people who migrated to the area from present-day Yunnan Province in
southern China. The Khmer and Mon peoples were well
established before the arrival the Tai or the Burmese people; perhaps they
invented the dha as 13th-century reliefs at Angkor depict the weapon.
The history of the region includes many periods where one or the other of these
groups dominated, bringing along their culture and weapons to conquered areas.
Similar terms exist in the surrounding area with slightly
different meanings. The Chinese word dao (dou in Cantonese)
means knife but can refer to any bladed weapon with only one edge. In Bengali,
a dao is a six-inch-long knife. From the Himalayas, the
dao spread to Southeast Asia where it came into its present shape.
While it is pronounced dha in Burmese, among Khmer-speakers it is
known as dao and it may be related to the Malay words pedang and sundang,
meaning sword. A related term, dap, means a long-handled sword
in Malay. In Thailand, the dha corresponds to the krabi (Thai:)
but the equivalent Thai term is daab which is
usually a single-edge sword.
Please see detail photos which form part of
the description… STU/A31
The measurements are
Size: 20.5 cm Long in
sheath / 10.5 cm Blade
Please email me with any questions or for a delivery quote
…or pick up from
Miranda in Sydney South
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NOTE
Many of the items for sale at Jim’s International Bazaar
were collected by Jim on his around the world adventures as an author,
photojournalist and photographer. They include Turkish rugs, copper and
brass, and artifacts from
ABOUT THE PHOTOGRAPHER
James Anderson
is an internationally renowned photojournalist and
adventurer, with two major photographic books (New Guinea & Cannibal), plus
covers and major spreads in a whole host of internationally prestigious
magazines from Life International to The Geographic and Argosy.
He's been shipwrecked in the Pacific, wrestled camels in
A blue-water yachtsman, he sailed his own 60ft yacht, the
"Moana Vahine", from Hong Kong to Southern Turkey, down the South
China Sea, across the Indian Ocean, and up the full length of the Red Sea, via
Singapore, Panang, Sri lanki, The Maldive Islands, and French Djibouti. An avid
diver and spear fisherman, he mounted a series of diving expeditions in The
In addition to several years in