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Originally Posted by Jean
Other Western authors such as Karsten S. Jensen also attribute this type of hilt to Durga but he refers to Martin Kerner indeed (see book Keris-Griffe/ Museum Rietberg Zurich page 60).
Vanna Ghiringhelli attributes the origin of this hilt to Bengkulu but there may be various types indeed. Anyway let us adopt the name putri malu which seems more adequate!
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I agree that the name "Durga hilt" should be retired. With all due respect to Jensen and Kerner, i do not believe either of these gentlemen have ever presented any solid evidence that these hilts were ever meant to represent Durga and continuing to refer to them as such is only a misdirection for any further research and understanding of the form. While this is the first time i have heard the term "putri malu", it does at least seem to be coming from a source(s) within the culture as opposed to without and will probably serve us better, at least for the time being.