Burmese Head-dresses

[rudynelson]

Well I know that the Pagan-Burman Empire wore the cone-head attire but I am wondering about the Toungoo-Burman and Ava- Burman Empires ?

I also know that the Talaings (Pegu) wore mainly no headgear with some turbans. The Shans (Ava-Shan, Nam Mao Long, Mohnyin, and Pinya)were Tai and thus Chinese ethnic and wore mainly the chinese style turban.

The Arakan and Pyu were heavily influenced by the Indians so had there style of turban.

So any help on the post-Pagan Burmans would be appreciated.

[Mike Demana]

Hi Rudy,

I have the booklet, Armies of Medieval Burma from Outpost Wargames -- do you have that, already? If not, I'll dig through there. I also have a number of color images I obtained as souveniers from my trip to Myanmar/Burma. The only problem is that they have no captions, so the date of the troops in question are up in the air.

If you'd like, I can scan and e-mail them to you...let me know.

[Ralph (4)]

Mike

Hi, I have a quick question on Burmese Armour. What material did the Burmese use to construct the Mitre type helmet they wore (Bronze, Iron, Gold, etc) My impulse is Gold or bronze but I figure I would ask an expert.

Also
Do you know what type of designs the Burmese used on their heater type sheilds?

Any help or references would be greatly appreciated.

Semper Fi
Ralph

[Mike Demana]

My book states the helmets were gilded or golden for "The Guard." I think he is referring to the peaked helmets with a brim, as all the images I have of Burmese warriors also show the helmets as a bright gold.

As for shields, the images show something very similar to the Macedonian sun you see on Successor army shields. It has a central dot or ball, and 8 flower petal-like arms radiating out from it. And there are some that look even more flower like, with the projecting petals all connected. There are also shields with a central ball and a series of other balls forming a circle around it.

Hmmm...I wonder. Chris (if you are reading this), do you have space on Fanaticus for me to scan and upload these images? Otherwise, it could take all day for me to describe, and I'd still be leaving out cool details about the clothing and stuff -- especially color choices...

[rudynelson]

Mike, I had that book in my store. It seemed , like most works on Burma to focus on the Pagan era.

The conical head-dresses seem to be of a bamboo frame and wrapped. They were gilded. In regards to a bronze reinforcement, that is possible but based on their traditional basis for justifying any actions. I am not sure about complete bronze cast helms.

It was a symbol of being Burman just as heavy tattooing was. This was a main reason the talains and Shan did not use them.