Man with a dha ?

[Mark]

OK. Myanmar is written, Bama is spoken. Thanks for the clarification. The Western literature is all over the place, using Burmese, Burman, Bama, Mramma, Mranma, Myanma, Myanmar, and on and on.

You mentioned Pali. I have often read that official documents and inscriptions on stele and pagoda were in Pali, but I had assumed that there was a different alphabet used. Is it the same as that used for Myanmar (kind of like Latin and English)?

Anyway, back to dha. Is a Hnget Kyi Taung Dha a particular form of dha lwe, or a different (more formal? more precise?) for the dha lwe? I never know how closely transliterations into English are, but on one dha of mine there is a dedication reading (in part) "Thado Thiri Min Hla Ye Kaung Dha," and I can't figure out if that is all a name, part a title, or some combination. It makes me want to learn Burmese.

The dha in the picture you posted looks like an even more extreme stylization of the one in the picture at the top of the thread. It resembles a bit one appearing in an illustriation of Syme's "An Embassy to the Court of Ava." I have a scan somewhere, and I'll post it. It has the same radical flaring of the scabbard, and overall squat appearance. Who was the author of the reference you cited? I haven't come across it yet.

You can look forward to a lot of brain-picking from the "dha guys" here. We have been starved for Burmese expertise.

You have a very illustrious namesake, by the way.

Originally Posted by ~Alaung_Hpaya~

Hi,

I can see why collecting dha can be addictive . I might start one day ,finances permitting .


Yes I am Bama ( culturally - ethnically a hotch potch ) and named after U Aung Zeya hence the username. I've grown up abroad so my ability to read even comtemporary Burmese is poor but my ability to read Pali is non existent . I'll try to help if I can with any translations.

Myanmar has always been the written name with Bama being the spoken form . ( except these days I hear lots of young people who grew up after the "change" of name who refer to themselves as Myanmar )

I can see the reasons for wanting a non-ethnocentric umbrella term like British but as the junta has no legitamacy people resent anything that they do .


That aside ...

Back to topic - The fighting dha lwe is often called Hnget Kyi Taung Dha ( meaning lit. Bird Large Feather Dha ) and one is owned by practically every family in rural areas and by many in the cities .

Many came out from under beds and floor boards during the 1988 uprisings.


Here's another drawing from Journal of a residence in the Burmham empire, and more particularly at the court of Amarapoorah 1821 showing a trooper - its that a horn or a dha ? Seems highly disproportioned if it's meant to be the latter .