Burmese Dha & Javanese Badik

[Mark]

Originally Posted by Aurangzeb

Do I have the age of the Burmese Dha right? How whould it be worn?

Yes, I would say you probably do. It is so hard to tell between a well-worn recent knife and a well-preserved old knife, but IMO the obviously hand-forged blade, coupled with the fine quality of the fittings (by which I mean it is neither something someone pounded out in a mountain village, nor a modern mass- or semi-mass-produced blade), point to that age more or less.

I haven't studied the dagger-length dha (dha-hmyaung) as much as the swords, but the style seems very universal in the entire region. From what I have seen recently, though, the Burman ones do not have guards, while the Thai ones tend to.

As for how it would have been worn -- no idea. In the north the Shan/Tai Yuan wear their dha-hmyaung suspended from their belt by a cord, a minature version of the baldric used for swords. However, I have never seen a cord hanger in this, more southern, style, which makes me suspect that it would be worn in a manner more like that of a keris or badik - tucked directly into the sash. I am, of course, open to correction.