Dao i just purchased with no idea on what it is, information please

[Kmaddock]

Hi
I Got 2 Kora's yesterday in an auction (been looking for 1 for a while and now have ended up with 2) and this sword was in the same auction.
This sword was unsold in auction so when arranging shipping I put in a cheap (I think) bid and the auctioneer accepted.
I have no real clue on what it is but would appreciate comments and opinion on my new addition, courier will take a week or so but in the interim I would welcome opinions so i can get a bit of knowledge.

The auction was of a stately house in Ireland and going on the medals for sale, the house has strong association with India during the mutiny period 1850's or so.

Might this sword be from this period, it looks to be well made and of good quality and but as I said not my area of interest, going on pictures it looks as if It has gone on the collectors market just in time with just surface rust
just starting to appear,


only information from auctioneer is 70 cm long
Regards to all ,

Ken

[Ian]

Hi Ken,

This is a Naga dao from Nagaland, bordering on Burma and part of the NE Territories of India that were loosely governed by the British Raj. There are other examples to be found on the forum if you use the search function. It is a very nice example, and if the ferrule is silver (more likely brass but hard to tell from the pictures) then it was owned by someone of importance as silver is rare on Naga weapons. A good clean may show a laminated pattern or even perhaps a hairpin pattern similar to Tibetan swords. You got lucky on this one!

Ian

[Sajen]

Sorry Ian, I disagree a little bit with you, I would say that it is Jingpo dao (Kachin), from time to time used by different Naga people but it's a pure Jingpo sword. See also here: https://www.mandarinmansion.com/glossary/lin-gin and here: http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...ghlight=kachin, also here: http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...ghlight=kachin and in this thread by #4 you stated it yourself: http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...ghlight=kachin

Regards,
Detlef

[Sajen]

Hello Ken, a very nice so-called Kachin dao. When you have received it you should clean the blade, it will show a nice lamination! Sadly the scabbard is missing. When my time allows it I will show my both examples.

Regards,
Detlef

[RobT]

Hi All,

In plate 37 of his book The Indian Sword, P. S. Rawson lists this type of dao as Kachin from the Assam and shows it with the characteristic open sheath. The example in this thread is very nice indeed.

Sincerely,
RobT

[Kmaddock]

Thanks all for the great information,

Not something that has been on my list but as I am paying courier for these 2 kora's I decided to add the dao into the mix.

Any idea on the approx. age of the Dao?

I will put pictures up after i clean the new additions over the Christmas break

Regards,

Ken

[Ian]

Originally Posted by Sajen

Sorry Ian, I disagree a little bit with you, I would say that it is Jingpo dao (Kachin), from time to time used by different Naga people but it's a pure Jingpo sword. See also here: https://www.mandarinmansion.com/glossary/lin-gin and here: http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...ghlight=kachin, also here: http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...ghlight=kachin and in this thread by #4 you stated it yourself: http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...ghlight=kachin

Regards,
Detlef

Hi Sajen,

Yes, the link between the old traditional Kachin (Jingpo) dao and the Naga dao is very strong. The Naga are described by Rawson as an "iron poor" ethnic group. He cites this as a reason for them stealing British made hoes from plantations to make their traditional long handled dao (not the sword dao of this discussion). In fact, the Naga were not very good at making conventional knives and swords. They probably never made the sword dao (shown here) and obtained this type of sword from the Kachin/Jingpo.

The Kachin almost totally ceased making this type of dao in the 1870s (according to Hanson) and switched to a slimmer Shan dha with a squared end because it was cheaper and more readily available. The change over was virtually complete by 1880-1890 (again, according to Hanson*) with some of the older style still in use, especially in more remote areas, even into the mid-20th C.

So, it's a question of attribution—whether you assign this sword to the maker or the likely user. I agree with your dating and likely Kachin/Jingpo manufacture, but I think it was most likely used by a Naga for reasons already noted.

Also, this sword came from an Indian collection, and I think the original collector would be more likely to have acquired it in India if it came from the Indian NE Frontier rather than the highlands of Burma/China. But that's just speculation.


* "The true Kachin sword is now rarely seen south of Myitkyina and Mogaung. The Shan article is in common use." O. Hanson. The Kachin: their customs and traditions. 1913, p. 47.

[RobT]

Hi All,

I believe that the Kachin are also in the Assam region of India. Is it unreasonable to assume that this population may have retained the older form of sword longer than those groups in South East Asia and China?

Sincerely,
RobT

[Ian]

Rob,

I believe that the Naga retained use of this sword up until the WWII era.