15thC Burmese Sword

[Titus Pullo]

Originally Posted by Mark Bowditch

B.I. - Did you take those photos of the tile yourself? In which museum are they?

On re-reading this thread, I realized that the King and temple were Peguan, and not Burmese. It is a distinction that isn't as important now, but historically Pegu in lower Burma had a quite distinct culture, and for many years was a completely separate kingdom from that of Pagan/Ava in the north. The Peguans were/are Mon, related to the Khmer, and not Mramma (Burman, a Tibeto-Burman people). I have been wondering if there is a stylistic and/or developmental distinction between dha of lower Burma - Mon dha - and dha of upper Burma - Mramma (Burman) dha. This tile might be a good clue.

I think maybe the Mon Dha is very similar to Thai daab/dha since the Thai fencing technique was influence by the Mon style, ending in one lethal blow where the fighters try to decapitate each other if possible.