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Originally Posted by David
I don't pesonally have any opinion of Jensen as i do not own his Kris Disc as of yet. It may well be a very good reference. I do know that there is no way you can rely on any single source for accurate keris information and that "accurate" can change from island to island and era to era. Every book i have on the subject has at least some questionable material in it.
I wouldn't say that "the hypothesis would be it is Bima". That is, apparently, Jensen's hypothesis, but i have never read that from any other author i am familiar with.
Perhaps someone who has the Kris Disc can fill us in on what exactly has lead Jensen to his hypothesis. If he has no sources and no observational reasoning for his statement then it is more a guess than a hypothesis.   |
This is what the disk states:
"About 1500 Cirebon had Muslim rulers. In the mid-sixteenth century Cirebon defeated troops of the Hindu Pajajaran kingdom. Banten was established as a vassal muslim state to Cirebon. Bantenīs rulers continued the extension of its territory and captured Pajajaran`s capital Pakuan (Bogor) and its villages in 1579. Armies of the sultanate also crossed the Sunda Strait into South Sumatra to overtake the pepper-trade, which made Banten a very rich and influential state1. But the area around Banten and Cirebon remained for the major part Hindu or still influenced by the Hindu scheme of things.
Therefore many of the krisses from Banten, Cirebon and Tegal still had Hindu figures as hilts. They represent a range of Hindu gods, demons and heros fx Yaksha/ Raksasa (Fig25, 26), Dursasana (Fig 29), (stylized) Ganesha (Fig 30 a) and Bima (Fig 19).
The Yaksha/Raksasa hilt types of Banten2 with a slightly different elaboration seem to have spread all along the commercial towns of the Northern coast of Java. In Cirebon and Tegal, which in the 16th and 17th century was influenced by Banten, is found a Raksasa like hilt, which is a mixture of the Raksasa-hilt type 1 and 2 from Banten3. Perhaps an 18th century version of the original Banten types, but it may be as old the Banten types. The wear of many of the hilts and blades of this type points in that direction. But it cannot be manifested as no krisses of this types are found in the early European Kunstkammer Collections. According to J.W. van Dapperen 4 this type of hilt might originate fromTegal, where the figure is called Tji-Kakak (kakak=older brother - boisterous laughter). It is said to make the kris defend its owner very courageously. This is supported by the fact that the figure has much resemblance to Bima, who is the most boisterous, courageous, strongest and fiercest of the Pandawa-brothers5. It has the same coarse (Kasar) appearance and has his much feared characteristic long thumbnails (Panchanaka)"
And his sources:
1 Jean Gelman Taylor: Indonesia, Peoples and History, New Haven and London 2003, p 82. Berhard H.M
Vlekke: Nusantara. A History of Indonesia, Hague 1965, p 130. Karsten Sejr Jensen: Den Indonesiske
Kris,1998, p 149-50. Chapter 3 p 2
2 This type of hilts may date back to the 11th/12th century. See chapter 2 p 2 and p 41, chapter 3 p 3-5
3 Karsten Sejr Jensen: Den Indonesiske kris 1998, p 65 Fig 43 (type 1) and p 89 Fig 57 (type 2). See
chapter 3, Fig 17 a (type 1) and Fig 17 b (type 2).
4 J.W. van Dapperen: Krisheften. Nederlandsch Indie Oud en Nieuw 1931, p 105 and 109, fig 12 and 15:
J.W.van Dapperen mentions that the Majapahit-prince Brawijaya (15th century) should have worn a kris
with such a hilt, which indicates that it may be much older than the 18th century.
5 Cedric Le Dauphin (The Hilts of the Kriss. Caos 2002 nr 1, p 153) thinks it represents the Garuda bird. What point towards that interpretation of the hilt is the triangular shape under his nose, which may indicate it is a beak. But this triangular shape is not meant as the lower part of a beak, but indicates the point where the right and the left part of the curly moustache meet. However, Bima and Garuda have some similarities as they both have the long thumbnails (Panchanaka�� and they both are fighting the snakes. Sometimes
Bima is depicted with snakes coiling around his neck, which Gurada never has, as he fighting the snakes. (Fig 23). See Pandam Guritno: Lordly Shades, Jakarta 1989, p 96.