Thread: DURGA Hilt?
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Old 2nd January 2009, 11:16 PM   #10
A. G. Maisey
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Join Date: May 2006
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Yes Pak Gonjo, and that's about the way I understand it too.

Back in the late 1960's and the 1970's, in Solo and Jogja, I never heard anybody call a keris sajen a "Keris Majapahit", but gradually over the years this term has crept into the local terminology, and now everybody in the markets calls them that.

The first "Durga" hilt I came across was in Malang some time in the 1970's. The seller, and a couple of other people called it a "perempuan" hilt.

During the 1980's and 1990's in Solo several tukang jejeran I knew called it "jejeran wadon".

Nobody I have known, or know now, in Jawa, calls it a "Durga" hilt.

To the best of my knowledge, this term "Durga" originates with a western writer's rather vivid imagination.

It is a nice, colourful name. It sure sounds better than than just "woman".

But if the name is subjected to logical analysis in the context of the nature of the keris, I personally find it very difficult to accept as a true designation for this hilt form.

We can digress into wayang terminolgy & etc, & etc, & etc, but that is just smoke and mirrors. The core question is this:-

where is the evidence, or the properly constructed logical argument, that can provide acceptable support for the name "Durga" to be attached to this hilt form?

In my estimation, there is none.

I agree with you Pak Gonjo:- this name is a modern invention, originating in the west.
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