I saw several of these during my visit of the Smithsonian off-shelf collection. Unfortunately, they were just classified as "choppers," or sometimes "jungle"-something (chopper, knife, etc.). Personally I think that it is distinct from a mak, but that term is pretty broad so that is what it might be called despite it having a distinct use.
As far as it being a weapon, I think it would be pretty awkward, particularly in view of the mix-it-up style of fighting generally seen in old SEA battles. They would basically rush at each other en masse and flail away. Since this would require a lot of room to effectivly swing, it would be hard to use in this setting. It might be a calvary weapon, however, which is the mak's war-time job. Having handled this one at Timmonium, I think its handle istill s a little too long, though. I doubt that it would have been used from elephant back, as it is too simple an affair for a high noble, who were the ones who fought from elephant back. The mahout just drove (sort of -- the elephants apparently went pretty nuts once in the fray).
I am not sure where that leaves me, since the decoration would seem superfluous to a tool.
|