Montagnard Dha Sources

[Antonio Cejunior]

Originally Posted by Mark Bowditch

Hi, Antonio! That blade is gorgeous!

I only ever had one Montagnard-style blade, but with a completely atypical the handle. I never put it on the site and now it has passed out of my hands. Andrew and Ian have some very nice ones, as you will see.

The mesh on my dha's grip actually doesn't look too hard to do. Here is a close-up of another handle that uses a similar technique:

I will post some close-ups of mine as well.

There are also various things that you can do with bone and ivory, but the grip would not be very good. I rather like the way shagreen is used on some Shan-style dha:

They usually have brass or copper nails holding the shagreen on, which are placed in a pattern and work rather well as finger-grips. JT (RhysMichael) has some very nice ones, of which this is my favorite:

This one is Ian's

Thanks Mark

I suppose you are talking about the Lung-Som blade. Had to do some changes in the shape. You know me...

Thank you for the different pictures you are posting here on Montagnard and the handles and mesh.
You know I am not the best of craftsmen But these are awesome blades!!!
Thank you very much my friend.
Haven't heard from you.
Take care and bless you.

Antonio

[Mark]

Here are close-ups of the mesh handles, showing a few different ways of making the pattern. The first is a close-up of the handle of my dha which RysMichael had originally posted. The second is from a dha essentially the same as the mesh-handled one that I previously posted. You can see three patterns of weaving, as well as the way it is finished off at the ends.

[ariel]

Here is my Montagnard

[ariel]

And what is this?
The handle is solid turned and checkered brass.

[Antonio Cejunior]

Thank you Ariel,

I see now the main differences between a Shan and a Montagnard.
The first one is really like a pole arm.
Amazing. Thanks very much.
Best,

Antonio

[Ian]

Antonio, but I have been dealing with cross-platform issues between graphics in PowerPoint for the Mac and converting images to reasonably-sized JPEG images.

Here are several examples of swords of Les Montagnards (Fr. "mountain people"), and I have tribal atributions, as best I can determine, for each.


1. Montagnard dha: This one is from the Jarai people who live along the Vietnamese-Lao border:

2. Montagnard dha: This one is from the Rhade people who also live along the Vietnamese-Lao border:

3. Montagnard dha: This one is from the Hmong, a group of Montagnard tribes who now live mainly in Laos, having largely been driven out of their Vietnamese range over the last 150 years:

Notice that the last example has a blade that resembles the "Shan" style, such as commonly seen in the northern areas of Thailand and Cambodia, which are neighbors of Laos. The "Shan" style of blade suggests a western or southern Lao influence.

Examples (1) and (2) above have a different style of blade with a sharply angled, wide tip that is reminiscent of certain types of Vietnamese and Chinese pole arms. Indeed, I believe that some Montagnard dha are modeled after such pole arms, which can probably all be traced to earlier Chinense weapons. It is noteworthy that the tribes to which these swords are attributed have some of their range within modern day Vietnam and some in neighboring Laos and Combodia.

As a generalization, it seems that sword blade shapes alter among the Montagnard groups as one moves west and south away from the main mountainous homeland areas along the Vietnames-Lao border.

There may also be other subtle regional differences: it seems that the ratio of handle to blade length increases as one goes west towards northern Thailand. That may not be surprising, because Thai swords do tend to have longer handles than, say, Burmese dha, especially those employed by the Thai cavalry in the 18th and 19th C.

Also, there is a tendency for the handles on Montagnard swords to be angled upwards, away from the cutting edge, while the blades themselves are straight or slightly curved along the spine. This is a common feature of Cambodian swords, rarely so among Thai or Vietnamese swords.

What I think we can say with some confidence about Montagnard swords are that they have been heavily influenced by styles to the east and north (Vietnam and China) and to the west and south (Thailand and Cambodia). Within the various tribal mountain groups, there has been a diffusion and mixing of styles, with perhaps some regional variations still discernible.

This would make a nice research project for a young scholar -- got anyone that you could recommend, Antonio.

There is a lot of information posted by other members in this thread, and I do want to respond to your pictures and ideas when time permits.

Ian.

[Antonio Cejunior]

Greetings Ian,

Yes, I was aware of the Montagnard being from "de la Montagne"

I very much like the first one and the last one. Thank you for posting them.
I am begining to see that all of them have an almost polearm configuration, which makes me wonder why the need for the extra-reach.
Possibly because of the steep terrain I suspect. You know, form and function...

Feel no pressure. I believe Power Point from Mac is compatible with PC.
I'd be happy to host a full article and build the webpage if you like.

As for the young scholar... have you ever thought of locating a Thai student in the University?

Thank you for your great post and pictures.

[Ian]

These pictures came from Artzi Yarom's web site and he generously allowed me to use them in the Timonium presentation on Montagnard dha. This is an old sword attributed by Artzi to Laos. It resembles other Montagnard pieces, although the tip of the blade is more upturned than usual. It appears to have a strong Vietnamese/Chinese influence in style.

[Antonio Cejunior]

Originally Posted by Mark Bowditch

Here are close-ups of the mesh handles, showing a few different ways of making the pattern. The first is a close-up of the handle of my dha which RysMichael had originally posted. The second is from a dha essentially the same as the mesh-handled one that I previously posted. You can see three patterns of weaving, as well as the way it is finished off at the ends.

Thanks Mark
It is quite intricade work beyond my capacity. I very much admire the ingeniosity od the mesh. Most grateful my friend.
I thought from the smaller earlier picture that it would be some kind of regular ray skin type of mail, little flatterned spheres linked together in some other ingeniuous way.

Grazzie tanti