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Originally Posted by Battara
One more thought, after better contact with Indonesia and the Philippines, the wavy blade became more popular, even finding its way into modern Wicca through Gardiner (who studied in Indonesia).
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Hi Jose,
It is my understanding that the wavy blade came to Indonesia from India, and I would presume from the nagan image. The original keris blades were straight in what I have read.
From my understanding of the keris, which is admittedly elementary, the waves (luk) in the blade have more to do with the esoterica of these weapons, and powers imbued in them than for combative purposes. I have not seen the Gardner book, which is I think pretty hard to find these days, but sounds pretty fascinating. I think these topics are most interesting from anthropological and folkloric sense, which often are impeded thier misunderstandings.
It seems there has often been a great deal of misunderstanding with many dramatic blade features, and in another instance, I believe the barbs on long arrows in Philippines (?) and some other regions are intended more in protection from evil sense than for more gruesome reasons.
All the best,
Jim