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Originally Posted by A. G. Maisey
The symbolism of the alas-alasan motif is that it represents the world.
In Hindu thought the whole world is a forest --- actually three different kinds of forest ---, to maintain our world we must maintain the forests, everything in our physical world is an aspect of the singularity of the Supreme Being, we respect the world and all in it, we respect the Supreme Being. The Ultimate Reality is everywhere, in everything, but in the forest representation we symbolise only this world that we live in, not the cosmos.
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Alan, thank you for the explanations regarding insects and birds, and especially the Gonjo-water connection. Regarding Sunggingan Solyom writes:
"On either side of the hole where the blade enters the sheath, may be painted a four petalled flower, probably a lotus, floating on water".
So the hilt (and Pesi) is sitting in a lotus, an idea, which lives forth also in Malay Pendokok with petals.
Regarding my use of the word "cosmos" in connection with Alas-Alasan:
Alas-Alasan is described as a "cosmic model" in the essay of Rens Heringa in "Five Centuries of Indonesian Textiles" 2010, which is a quite serious publication. His reference for this was Solyom&Solyom, "Notes on Indonesian Textiles" 1979, which I don't have.
In "The World of Javanese Keris" regarding Alas-Alasan (p. 54) Solyom writes:
"The combination seems clearly to represent a universal totality."
Cosmos is an universal totality.