Parang Nabur

[semar]

Parang nabur for comment
Who can tell me more about this parang nabur
and the inscriptions

thank you

[VVV]

Yours is a very nice, and quite rare, variation of the Beladah Belabang (aka "Parang Nabur" nowadays among collectors outside the culture).
It was used by the coastal Malays of Southeast Borneo, usually found around the Banjarmasin and Negara area.
Sometimes they also show up as regalia in other Malay areas.
They don't have anything to do with either Sea-dayak or any other kind of dayak-tribe.
The square is quite common on Malay weapons from south Borneo.
Yours is related to the Islamic magic square, wafq, where the numeric value of the arabic letters in all directions are the same.
This value represents a "hidden" name. Like the most common one is the Buduh (3 x 3) also known as Adam's seal.
The 4 x 4 is Plato's seal etc...
There is a lot of symbolism within the squares and by itself it also has baraka, "the Force".

Michael

[semar]

thank you for your info michael

[Battara]

An unusual form of this type. I love the silver work.

[Maurice]

Who can tell me more about this parang nabur
and the inscriptionsHi Hans,

Don,t believe everybody. It is just a piece of iron.
I am coming next week to look to this strange metal thing. I will do you a favour and take it with me than you can be happy to get rid of it without doing any effort (oh yeah, I will take the other nabur of yours also with me, you don,t have to pay me).:D

I,ll give you a call!

Regards,
Maurice

[CharlesS]

Here are a couple more examples from my collection. At first glance they look like twins, but the hilts and blades are quite different. One has the 'wafq' and the other does not.

You may also enjoy the old photo with an example of one among Moro blades. This example is attributed to the Moro Sultan of Sulu, which compliments my interest in cross cultural items. Obviously the Sultan thought it held up well in comparisons to pieces form his own culture.

Neither of my examples is the one in the old photo.

[asomotif]

Amazing pieces Charles,

they must have been made on the same location / same maker maybe :shrug:

Hans, yours is very nice too by the way.

And all these 3 have blades that are much more elagant than the average parang nabur.

[Battara]

The okir on these seems similar to Moro okir design more than typical Indonesian okir designs. It makes sense that these are off Southeast Borneo, an area of Indonesian and Moro contacts.

[VVV]

Beautiful BBs Charles!

And the one with wafq seems to have a "real" buduh too, which is unusual IMO.

Michael