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Old 12th May 2017, 07:32 AM   #23
A. G. Maisey
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Join Date: May 2006
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The groove is a pretty common feature Gustav, we can find it on all sorts of edged implements in both Jawa and Bali, as well as other places.

Incidentally, I'm not pushing the barrow for Jawa origin with this thing, I'm just relating what I've seen. I've never seen one of these things in Jawa, I have in Bali, but the overall impression I get of it is Jawa.

Gustav, the P339 pic in Keris Lombok is of something that in Bali is called a "blakas pengentas", essentially it is a tool, but these days it tends to get used more in cremation ceremonies. Different people use different names for all these curved implements, sometimes it will be a blakas, sometimes a pengentas, sometimes a mardhik, sometimes a caluk, sometimes a blakas whatever, whatever, whatever. All these primarily agricultural implements were used as weapons and had special weapon versions. Same as in Jawa.

The pic on P.338 is actually something that most people would call a pedang, but the name here is given as "berang" or "golok" . In fact, it cannot be either, because it is simply not heavy enough and the form is certainly not anything like the Javanese berang which is a type of wedung with a short, heavy, chopping blade.

The desire of collectors to stick names on things is not limited to collectors in the western world. Lalu Djelengga did live in Lombok, but he was primarily a collector.

The simple fact of the matter is this:- we are dealing with a society that uses a non-standard language. Things vary. Names of things vary. It is a language designed for verbal communication, not written communication, the important thing is that the person you are speaking with understands you. This is a bit hard to accept for people who base their communication on writing and refer to dictionaries and thesauruses.

What I've seen happen when it comes to naming an object is that the name will change depending upon how it is being used right at that moment, for example, take a large kitchen knife, when it is being used to slice meat or vegetables in the kitchen it will be a "pisau" (piso), when it is taken outside the house to prune a prickly bush it will be a "golok".

As far as I'm concerned, the name for this implement under discussion is "mardhik". I do not know with certainty its geographic point of origin, but since it displays what I understand to be both Javanese and Balinese indicators, I am inclined to place it as either East Jawa or West Bali.
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