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

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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 China, New Guinea, Africa and South America.  These things are from his privet collection, none were bought for the purpose of reselling but rather to decorate his home.   Many new items will be listed as they are unpacked from storage along with a wonderful collection of photographic prints including many wildlife photos and prints of tigers photographed in China.

 

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 Turkey, and scoured the New Guinea Highlands in search of missing American heir and adventurer Michael Rockefeller.  He has also lived and worked in the jungles of New Guinea for over two years while collecting material for his books and records.

 

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 Maldive Islands and The Red Sea.

 

In addition to several years in New Guinea, he has organized and/or participated in photographic expeditions in Kenya and Tanzania, in Brazil and Columbia, in Turkey and some of the more remote islands of the south pacific. "On board the forty-foot ketch, the "Marquesa", we were the first yacht to visit the remote island of Ua Pou, in the Marquesas in almost two years.