A Beautiful HUGE Dha Knife/Dagger...but what's it used for??
 

Here is one of my favorite pieces that I just had polished by a forumite. I also had the scabbard restored(brass bands). This is a MASSIVE dha in knife form, measuring 23.5in. long. The ivory hilt is two inches wide and magnificently carved. The blade is 14in. long, just under 2in. wide, and very thick and heavy. The blade shows tremendous quality, with an inserted edge! SO, THE QUESTION IS...what was a piece like this used for?? It seems certain to be ceremonial and 'built to impress', but with such a high quality blade it's hard for me to believe it did not have some sort of function. Any input is appreciated.

That is a most interesting finish to the blade. This looks as if it was some kind of presentation piece or weapon of office. I have been lucky to have worked on some myself and for such prestige customers a faux version would never do, even if it is never going to be used and may not even be sharp it still has to be the real thing. Tim

Gorgeous blade! Its what is called a "priest knife." I am looking for my materials on them, and will write more later. Dan Wilke got me a big poster in Thailand with pictures of various types. The size reminds me of the sort of thing you see with piha kaeta. There was a lot of contact between Sri Lanka and Burma over the centuries.

I wondered about it being ceremonial in that sense too, but certainly I cannot imagine it is any form of sacrificial blade from a predominately Buddhist culture. At the same time, the motifs of the ivory hilt seem to indicate unfortunate souls caught up in some form of foliage netting, being slowly dragged up and devoured by the monster at the hilt's pommel. So, there is certainly some violence in the story line.

Mark, is there any hope of getting that poster copied?

Thanks for your input.

I do know that in some Buddhist traditions, demons representing fear, envy, hatred, etc. drag folks down into hell or at the very least, they cloud the person in the thicket of illusion. I believe this is true not only of the Mahayana traditions (i.e. Tibetan) but also of the Theravada traditions (i.e. Sri Lanka, Burma, Laos).