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

Mark · 29th October 2005, 03:04 AM

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.

CharlesS · 29th October 2005, 02:35 PM

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.

Battara · 31st October 2005, 04:30 AM

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).

29th October 2005, 03:04 AM	#1
Mark Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Posts: 987	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.

29th October 2005, 02:35 PM	#2
CharlesS Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Greenville, NC Posts: 1,854	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.

31st October 2005, 04:30 AM	#3
Battara EAAF Staff Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Louisville, KY Posts: 7,280	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).