India~ Digaro Mishmi Sword: Rare Mishmi parang or da from the Digaro subgroup Arunachal Pradesh, India. This piece is contemporary and was acquired by a friend who took part in an expedition doing Ethnobotanical research in this remote region which borders Tibet five years ago. It is constructed of a bone pommel, hand forged blade, wood open scabbard, held together with copper wire and a pigskin carrying strap. There are only 8000 people in this particular ethnic group, so this would be of interest to the specialist collector of tribal knives and weapons. This region is politically very sensitive due to it’s proximity to the Tibetan border and is where the Dali Lama fled to from Tibet, also opium use amongst the Digaro is widespread so they are fairly suspicious of strangers turning up in their village. In Tibet the Idu Mishmi are referred to as Lhoba, but as far as i know the Digaro are only in the Northeastern tip of Arunchal Pradesh. l: 58.4cm/23in. http://www.trocadero.com/stores/abhayaasianart/items/1333634/item1333634...