Dha (sword)

The term dha is conventionally used to refer to a wide variety of knives and swords used by many people across Southeast Asia, especially present-day Myanmar (Burma), Thailand, Yunnan, Laos, and Cambodia and Northeast India.

[citation needed] The history of the region includes many periods where one or the other of these groups dominated, bringing along their culture and weapons to conquered areas.

While it is pronounced dha in Burmese, among Khmer-speakers it is known as dav (Khmer:ដាវ) and it may be related to the Malay words pedang and sundang, meaning sword.

These features are a round cross-section grip, a long, gently curving blade (sometimes upward, other times downward in the direction of use) with a single edge, and no guard.

Knives and swords with these characteristics are viewed by ethnic groups of the region as being of a single type, albeit with variations arising from local style and tradition.

Hilts range from simple wood, possibly wrapped in rattan or covered in ray skin, to elaborately worked silver and ivory.