A discharge lamp of the short arc type having sufficiently high radiance without being accompanied by deformation and wear of the anode in use. In the discharge lamp of the short arc type having a discharge vessel, there are a cathode having a tip area in the shape of a truncated cone and an opposite anode having a tip area in the shape of a truncated cone. The discharge vessel is filled with xenon gas, and the discharge lamp is operated in a configuration in which a center axis of the cathode and a center axis of the anode are each positioned horizontally. The nominal wattage of the discharge lamp is 0.5 kW to 5 kW, and the filling pressure of the xenon gas is greater than or equal to 1.5 MPa. The center axis of the cathode is displaced below the center axis of the anode, and the amount of displacement of the cathode is 10% to 15% of the distance between the cathode and the anode in the axial direction. Further, in the discharge lamp of the present invention, least one end of the discharge vessel is provided with a base having a means for controlling the operating position.