Burmese dha use question

[Ian]

Jeff,

I think Rick is correct, in that the fuller is passing through a sharpened area at the end of the bklade, and this likely indicates a reshaped tip. Fullers do run through the end of some dha blades, but these usually have a blunt, squared-off end or a concave end (as shown in the attachment). Such blunt- or cancave-ended dha were especially used by the Kachin, and usually had a three-part hilt such as the one shown in your original post. While fullered blades were made by the Burmese, they were also made by the Achang people of Husa in Yunnan (who made excellent blades BTW). The blade in the OP may have started out as a Husa dha.

As for their use, the dha as a fighting weapon lost prominence in the second half of the 19th C when firearms became more prevalent. By the early 20th C, plain dha were still being used for working purposes (as "jungle knives") but otherwise higher quality examples were largely ceremonial in function, being worn as a sign of status, at weddings, on national holidays, festivals and other cultural events.

Ian

P.S. On the subject of the Dha Index, this is now very old information and contains quite a few inaccuracies. Just a word of caution in its use. Even though some of my dha are shown there, the descriptions previously attributed to them may no longer be accurate.
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