Dashna
Also known as: khevsuruli dashna
A short Khevsureti sword, 42–58 cm long, with a single-edged blade made from broken swords and sabres; young men wore it alongside a sword, while older men carried only the dashna.
Quick Facts
GeorgiaAbout the weapon
The dashna is a short sword from Khevsureti in northeastern Georgia, according to Vakhtang Kiziria longer than a Georgian dagger and shorter than a broad sword. The most prized dashnas were attributed to famous owners, such as Khosharauli, an 18th-century figure celebrated in folk poetry. It measures 42 to 58 cm in total. Unlike double-edged Georgian daggers, it has a single edge, longer and narrower than a dagger's, with part of the back sharpened. The straight, dagger-type hilt has no guard; the grip was often buffalo horn with a brass or copper pommel. Dashnas were made from broken blades of broad swords and sabres, some imported from Solingen. The wood-and-leather sheath, plated in copper, hung vertically on the left hip from a sabmeli strap. It served for close combat on foot, in houses and on narrow mountain paths. Its technique resembles dagger fighting, with parries and blocks, though the blade also allowed cuts. Miko Cherba notes the sword, khmali or dashna, was used with a small round shield called a pari. Young men carried it with a broad sword; older men carried only the dashna, as a mark of experience. When Soviet authorities resettled the Khevsurs to the lowlands in the mid-1950s, the dashna gained new defensive features and a coloured plastic grip, and came to be worn concealed under clothing or in a sleeve.
Parts of the weapon
- Blade
- Spine
- Grip
- Scabbard
Related weapons
- Used together with: Pari and khmali