I've been leaning towards calling these hilts Buta Bajang, but then, what's in a name.
This name game thing can be very annoying at times, but then we must consider that if it ever is possible to find the original name for something that name could, i suppose, lead to some deeper understanding of the thing itself...or not.
Even if we can determine if "pulungan" was ever a possible original term for such hilts, was it a general term or a more localized speciality term? And would such a naming lead us to any greater understanding of the hilt itself and it's place within Javanese/Cirebon keris culture? Strangely enough i do not yet have a good Javanese/English dictionary (yes, i know
). Google translator is horrible, but it does translate "pulungan" as "meeting". This is probably incorrect and maybe Alan has a more accurate translation as this one does not seem to add any particular incite into the nature of these hilts.
Ultimately though it seems that we are past the point where we can ever be sure of the origin of these names or what may or may not be more correct. I find that in many circles "knowledge" of the most amount of specialized keris terminology is part of the i-know-more-than-you-do game of one-upmanship. Unfortunately this game seems to often be inserted into discussions as a substitute for any substantial understanding about the nature of keris.
Here are a couple of my Buta Bajang hilts. One is very old and the other is a nice contemporary hilt that i believe holds to traditional design. I don't know if either of these has characteristics that would lead a more knowledgeable collector to label it "pulungan". It does seem that the body position in these two hilts are somewhat different, with the contemporary one in a deeper squatting position and the old one seems more seated atop something. That in itself might designate these hilts by completely different specific names.
