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“Dha” (or
“dah”) is a generic term for a sword or knife of the various ethnic
groups that make up what was formally Burma (now Myanmar), Siam
(Thailand), Cambodia and Laos. It actually is a Burmese term that
simply means "blade." The corresponding term in Thai is "daab," or
"darb." We in the West tend to use it to refer to a variety of sword
and dagger-length weapons that are used by a variety of people in
continental Southeast Asia. Thus, what are referred to here as “dha”
are those swords used by the peoples of mainland Southeast Asia,
defined as present-day Burma, Thailand (exclusive of the Malay
peninsula), Yunnan, Laos and Cambodia, and in places like Assam and
Bengal, to the extent the foregoing peoples have settled there. They
share a few essential defining features that distinguish them from
other weapons/tools used in this area (and when there are exceptions
we have concluded that they are due to a limited external stylistic
influence), which are: (a) a grip with a round cross-section, (b) a
long, generally curved, single-edged blade and (c) no cross-guard or
knuckle-bow, and at most a very small disc guard. The inhabitants of
the region have more specific words for particular swords and
knives, for example, the Kachin word "nhtu" for swords, and the
Burmese terms “dha-lweí” for swords, “dha-hmyaung” for daggers,
“dha-mauk” for a general purpose knife, and “dha-ma” for heavy
choppering blades.
Accounts of the Anglo-Burmese Wars in the early 19th Century refer
to dha being used by the Burmese. We have found no certain reference
in Western literature to the use of dha before the time of the
Anglo-Burmese wars, though there are brief references in the
regional literature, including an account of the Siamese Prince
(later King) Naresuan (reigned 1590-1605 C.E.) climbing over a
Burmese stockade during the siege of Ayutthaya "with the blunt edge
of a saber in his mouth." Presumably this refers to a single-edged,
curved sword, and quite possibly to a dha, meaning that the dha may
have been in use at least as early as the late 16th century C.E.
Descriptions of “dha” are found in the classic book by Wilbrahim
Egerton (1880), and in Francis Garnier’s Further Travels in Laos and
Yunnan (a report of the 1866-1868 French Mekong expedition). Several
dha (swords and knives) were collected personally by Egerton from
about 1855 to 1880, and in his book he described other dha in the
Indian Museum collection. Even at that time, however, firearms were
beginning to replace edged weapons, and Egerton noted that some
groups in Burma were already relying more on firearms than
traditional bows, spears, and swords for hunting and warfare.
Additional examples of 19th Century dha can be found in the
collection of Buttin (1933). The Egerton and Buttin Collections are
some of the earliest specimens of dha available for study in the
West, at least in any number. Isolated examples can be found in a
number of private collections from the 19th Century (for example,
the Maharajah of Mysore has three dha from the 19th Century on
display in a Palace Museum) but the history of these are often
poorly documented. The National Museum of Thailand has several dha
in its collection attributed to the "Ayutthaya Period" of Thai
history (c. 1350 – 1767 C.E.), which resemble closely dha in the
collections of the authors attributed to the same period. A brief
description and illustrations of dha appear also in Stone (1934),
though without attribution, from Stone's personal collection now at
the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. We are aware of one
Burmese dha (catalogue no. 217) bearing a dedicatory
inscription with the Burmese date 1160, corresponding to 1798 C.E.
in the Western calendar.
The following account synthesizes some of the information we have
assembled to date. Our information is fragmentary but we have tried
to stay away from speculation and the temptation to fill in the gaps
with educated guesses. What follows is not a comprehensive view, but
a basic introduction to the chief types of dha, their origins,
general classification, and use.
Origins of the dha
Part of the difficulty in understanding the origins and
categorization of the dha is its apparent ubiquity among the people
of the region. However, by considering the question in
ethnographic/historical terms, without restricting oneself to
current political boundaries, it becomes a little easier to answer
two questions: Who “invented” the dha?” and “Where were they from?”
Answering those two questions should give the answer to a third:
“How did the style diffuse throughout the region in the way it did?”
So, it is worth discussing a little of the history of the region,
and the peoples who have come and gone across it.
The dha seems to be used predominantly by two broad ethnic groupings
in Southeast Asia, the Tibeto-Burman peoples (for example, the
Burman, Kachin and Karen), and the Tai-Kadai peoples (for example,
the Thai, Lao and Shan). There also is some indication that a
dha-like sword was used in the Khmer Empire centered in what is
today Cambodia, and dha with a Cambodian provenance are known today.
Relief carvings from the Khmer capital of Angkor show soldiers
carrying what appear to be curved swords of various kinds, with
simple, guardless hilts. Excavated swords with curved blades and
long, cast bronze hilts have allegedly been found in Khmer-era sites
in Cambodia (though not in controlled digs, making this attribution
uncertain). There are thus at least three possible "roots" for the
dha, though at present we can do no more than speculate as to which
is the original source, whether it evolved independently in each, or
whether it perhaps came from some other, as yet unidentified group.
The Khmer and Mon peoples had established sophisticated and powerful
kingdoms in Southeast Asia before the arrival of either the
Tibeto-Burmans or the Tai, the Khmer Empire centered on the city of
Angkor (circa 9th century C.E.), and the Mon (Talaing) at Thaton in
southeast Burma, and Dvaravati and Haripunjaya (circa 7th century
C.E.) to the north (in present-day northwest Thailand). All of these
were so-called “Indianized” cultures, meaning that their main
influence came from India, as opposed to “Sinocized” cultures such
as that of Viet Nam, which were heavily influenced by China. Due to
this basic difference between the ancient cultures of Viet Nam and
the rest of continental Southeast Asia, the swords of Viet Nam are
excluded from this discussion, as they appear to be in large part
local variations of Chinese weapons and not connected directly to
the dha form used in the rest of continental Southeast Asia. Though
there is the indirect evidence from Angkor and uncontrolled digs in
Cambodia of the use of the dha in the Khmer Empire, there is no
direct evidence that either the Khmer or the Mon as ethnic groups
used a sword of the dha form in this period.
The Burmese moved into Southeast Asia from the northwest (via
Assam/Darjeeling in present-day India), absorbing the Western Mon
after conquering Thaton in 1057 C.E. and dominating all of the
Irawady River valley, and the lower Sulawen (Salween) River valley
to the east. This was the kingdom of Pagan (Bagan, Pugan). The
Burmans were a less “civilized” race than the Mon, and very
deliberately appropriated the trappings of the Indianized Mon
civilization (literally deporting Mon intellectuals, monks, and
artisans from the Western Mon capital of Thaton to help build
Pagan).
The Tai moved southwards and westwards from what is today Yunnan
Province in southern China, into present-day Burma, Thailand and
Laos over a period of centuries, starting as early as the 10th
century C.E. During this period, there was significant contact with
the established Mon and Khmer, and later the Burman, both as
antagonists and as allies. The Tai eventually established, in the
early 13th century C.E., the Kingdoms of Sukothai and Lan Na in
territory formerly controlled by the Khmer and Mon. The Mongol
conquest of China, and ultimately the independent kingdoms of Yunnan
in the 13th century C.E., lead to a full-scale migration of Tai
peoples southward, and marked the beginning of the ascendancy of the
Tai in both Burma (where the Kingdom of Pagan was divided among Shan
princes, opening a long period of control by a Shan dynasty) and
Thailand. Sukothai was succeeded by Ayutthaya, then Bangkok as the
center of Thai power.
This very brief sketch only begins to show the complexity of the
political history of Southeast Asia. At various times after its
establishment, the "Burmese" kingdom was dominated by Burmans, Shan
(Tai), and Mon, and of course the British after the mid-19th
century. The area of the kingdom of the Thai was dominated at
various times by the Mon, the Khmer, and by the Burmese for a period
in the mid-18th century C.E. The picture is further complicated by
the wide-spread practice of moving the inhabitants (especially
artisans and craftsmen) of entire conquered regions back to the home
territory of the victor. So, who "invented" the dha, and when?
Perhaps it was the Khmer, as early as the 13th century C.E. (reliefs
at Angkor point to this); perhaps it was the Burmans; perhaps it was
the Tai who brought the style down from what is now southern China –
there are good indications that the dha was in use among the Thai by
at least the 16th century. The style doesn’t appear beyond these
groups, so very likely one or more of them is the originator of the
dha.
Principal forms of the dha
Dha are found in an almost infinite variety of forms, and in lengths
from 144 cm (45 inches) or more, down to small knives of 12 or 15 cm
(5 or 6 inches), and everything in between. The spectrum of dha
forms, however, can be broken down into broad classes. As already
mentioned, two main influences can be traced today: one from
northeastern India via the Tibeto-Burman peoples, and the second
from Tai groups that migrated from southern China and entered Burma
and Thailand from the north and east. The influence or role of the
Mon and Khmer is, as we have said, unclear, though possibly
significant.
The northeastern Indian influence is represented by the dao, a sword
whose blade is straight, widens from the hilt to the tip, has a
square end, and a single sharpened edge. The dao is used extensively
in Assam and Nagaland, and in northern Burma it was adopted mainly
by the Kachin people who live along the Assam-Burma border and to
the east, in the most mountainous regions of Upper Burma. Catalogue
nos. 229 & 230. The Kachin have been a powerful presence
in Upper Burma since the early stages of the Anglo-Burmese Wars,
when the British used their services to attack the Burmese kingdom.
The dao of the Kachin is purely a chopping weapon. From the dao has
emerged a longer, slimmer sword version that the Kachin used for
combat. This we refer to as the “Kachin” style dha. It has a
straight or slightly curved blade with blunt tip and is carried in a
closed scabbard in distinction to the dao which is carried in an
open-faced scabbard. Catalogue no. 231. The sword of the Shan
(Tai) resembles a saber, with either a curved or straight,
single-edged blade; the tip is usually pointed, and the sword can be
used for slashing or stabbing. See, e.g., catalogue nos.
242 and 243..
Both the Kachin and Tai styles of swords are without a hand guard.
These two basic styles seem to have overlapped in Burma,
particularly in Lower Burma, resulting in a wide variety of hybrid
and highly decorated forms of dha. The Karen people of SE Burma and
adjacent Thailand adopted the Shan style dha as did most of the
peoples throughout what is today Thailand. As a result, the
Shan/Thai dha/dharb is the most commonly seen dha form.
The dha of Cambodia and Laos are also similar to the Shan/Thai
forms. E.g., catalogue nos. 228 & 232. These have
pointed blades and handles that vary widely in length. Cambodian dha
often have blackened hilts and scabbards. The blades of Cambodian
dha are a little different from typical Shan blades in that the
Cambodian blade is usually straight from the tip to about 6-8 inches
in front of the hilt where it often angles abruptly up and this same
angle is followed through to the hilt which has an “uptilted”
appearance. Catalogue no.263 .
Another dha variant is attributed to the Montagnard tribes in
mountainous regions of Vietnam-Cambodia-Laos. This dha generally has
a very long handle with a small disk guard, and the blade is
hatchet-pointed, being wider towards the tip than at the hilt. The
hilt of these swords may be bare bamboo or wrapped with rattan, and
the wooden scabbard is usually wound with unplaited rattan.
Catalogue nos. 264, 265 and 266.
Dha construction
Historically, iron ore was mined and smelted locally and sold in
bazaars to blacksmiths. The use of iron imported from China was also
common. After the mid-19th century C.E., imported European iron and
steel gradually replaced local iron. A traditional forge used
cylindrical bamboo bellows, a smallish anvil in a wood base, and a
trough of water for quenching. Ferrars & Ferrars (1908). Egerton
(1880) states that the Singpho (Jingpaw) Kachin of the Assam region
used "a lump of stone as an anvil and a rude hammer," yet produced
weapons "which are highly prized for their temper and durability."
In more recent times, European-style anvils and heavy sledges are
used, though the traditional forge can still be seen in both Burma
and Thailand.
The basic construction of the dha comprises a forged, single-edged
blade, a short tang, and a wooden handle of circular cross-section
that is fixed over a blind tang. Bell (1907) describes three ways in
which dha were traditionally made in Burma. The Royal troops during
the reign of King Mindon (reigned 1853-1878 C.E.) carried swords of
iron, over which a thin coating of steel had been welded. The shaped
iron dha was heated red-hot, and a thin, red-hot sheet of steel was
wrapped around the blade and hammered to weld the metal, the process
repeated ten times, and the blade quenched in water. A method used
in the upper Chindwin River valley starts with a shaped blade of
iron, over which a strip of steel was placed, over all of which was
put a coating of clay. The blade is heated until red-hot, causing
the metals to bond and the clay to crumble away. The point of the
blade is coated again with clay and heated, then cooled slowly until
it reaches a dull green color, then given the final quench. In a
third method, the back and edge were made separately and welded
together with a lap joint. The Chinese technique of inserting a
hardened piece of steel between two softer layers (qiangang) can be
found on some Shan swords, and even some knives, but perhaps to a
lesser extent on Kachin dha. This technique is still used today in
Thailand by smiths of Chinese descent. Boyd (2000). Differential
tempering and hardening of the cutting edge, resembling Japanese
methods, may also be found on some of these swords. Edge hardening
is generally achieved by selectively heating the edge in a very hot
fire, followed by quenching (as opposed to the use of clay to create
different zones of hardening in a uniformly-heated blade, as seen in
traditional Japanese sword-making). Boyd (2000). This edge heating
results in a visible temper line that is frequently both wider and
less even than the hamon of a Japanese sword. Catalogue no.238
. However, blades have a more delicate temper line such as
is seen in Japanese swords are known, indicating that the clay
differential hardening technique was known. Catalogue no.
237. At least some blades made today in Aranyik in Thailand are
cut from a blank of sheet steel, shaped by stock removal, then
tempered.
While blade shape may reflect the distant origins of the dha, it
actually tells us little of the source of manufacture of a
particular sword. Burmese swords do tend to be straighter than Thai
swords; the square or concave tip seems more common in Burmese
swords, while the upswept tip seems favored in Thai blades.
Exceptions are apparent, though, and a particular smith might
produce blades of all of these forms. Blades, at least the best
ones, tended to be made centrally and dispersed via trade, though
local blacksmiths did (and still do) produce utility blades for
local consumption. The Duleng Kachin territory (east of the Irawady
and north of the Nam Tisang rivers) in the Kachin Hills area, and
Mong-Kung and Kehsi in the Shan States, were known to be important
centers of blade exportation to Lower Burma and Thailand. Aranyik in
central Thailand was, and still is, a major sword-manufacturing
center in that country, as is the northern city of Chiang Mai. Taken
together with the form and decoration of the fittings, blade shape
may give clues as to the original owner of a particular sword;
blades (either purchased or made-to-order) usually were decorated
and fitted locally to the owners' taste. The owner's choice may show
as much personal taste and whim as it does adherence to an ethnic or
cultural standard.
Most working dha have a plain steel blade without fullers or
ornamentation. The spine of the blade may be flat or peaked, the
latter being more common on Shan style swords. Blade thickness just
in front of the hilt ranges from about 6-12 cm (0.25 to 0.5 inches),
with an average of about 8-9 mm (about 0.35 inches), tapering
abruptly towards the tip, until the width at the spine is
essentially the same as that of the edge.
Decorative blades may have one or more fullers, although a single
wide fuller is probably the most common variant. Koftgari (designs
made by hammering wire and/or thin sheets of metal onto the
roughened surface of the blade) done in silver, copper, or brass may
be seen at the forte, extending for varying distances along the
blade, and inlaid work may be found along the spine in front of the
hilt (more rarely on the blade). Figures 1 and 2. Koftgari appears
to be exclusively a Burmese decoration on dha. |
