[BluErf]

Just took a closer look at the leg posture of some of my jawa demam hilt. I noticed that there are in fact 2 leg postures. One squatting (1st pair of pics), the other kneeling on one kneel (2nd pair of pics).

From the 1st pair of pics, we see abstract lines that separates calf from thigh that seem to suggest both legs are squatting "knees-up".

From the 2nd pair of pics, the abstract line separating the right calf from the right thigh seems to suggest the "knee-on-floor" leg. The abstract line separating the left calf and left thigh seems to suggest the "knee-up" leg.

And come to think of it, I have seen other "plain"-type of jawa demam much like the 2nd set squatting with both knees up like the posture of the ornate jawa demam in the 1st set. I think one such example is in Paul's collection. Paul -- could you spare some time to post pics?

Tuan Cedric, your Pic 4 seems to be of the "one-knee-up" form. Do you have any closer shots of the legs of the hilt in Pic 1?

The rashaksa leg posture seems to be of a different nature, closer to Balinese forms (but maybe Balinese hilt forms were influenced by the Javanese rashaksa). The rashaksa has its right leg "knee-up", possibly in a squat on top of a throne. The left leg is covered by motifs, but I suspect is down from the throne, touching the ground. It's a 'macho' way of sitting, I guess, one leg up on the seat, the other down. I think we see reference to such posture in Martin Kerner's keris-griffe book (his bigger book, not the small square book).

This posture is not the only rashaksa posture I have observed. The other posture is like what we see in your pic 6 - both legs squatting knee-up, with both hands on knees, left thumb and right little finger making an interesting sign.

Now, the arms posture of the 1st rashaksa also seems slightly different from the jawa demam's. It is arms crossed over the chest, like the egyptian posture we see on pharoahs' sarcophagi. Jawa demam's posture is right arm pulling a blanket over the left arm. The left arm may be folded vertically and pressed against the body, covered by the blanket.

I have been told that the 'spike' that rises from the back and forms a high point on the back of jawa demam hilt is referred to as the garuda mungkur. The 'beak' at the front of the lowered head is actually the 'tanjak' (headdress) or the 'makhota' (crown).

The other thing I observed is that rashaksa hilts, especially the older forms, tend to have its face looking down, but not as down as the jawa demam hilt. The newer rashaksa hilts tend to look forward.

We see some inter-connections between the rasaksa hilt and the jawa demam, but there are some differences in basic posture which makes one think how the 'evolutionary' jump was made from "sitting on throne, one leg up" and "squatting with both hands on knees" to "kneeling with leg up and right arms over left" and "squatting with right arms over left".

I think as we try to elucidate possible developments of the jawa demam, we may have to keep in mind that there could be 'parallel evolution' going on, just like the evolution of human beings -- different species of human beings actually co-existed and evolved in parallel (e.g. neanderthals, pygmies, and us -- homo sapiens sapiens).