Silver Pedang Lurus ???

A. G. Maisey · 1st February 2014, 08:12 PM

Yes Norman, a Javanese pedang, it is straight, thus "lurus", it is pointed and designed to stab rather than slash, so "suduk" or "tusuk".

Dress appears to be 19th century, probably second half of the 19th century, might be a bit earlier or a bit later, but definitely pre-WWII; the ornamentation uses common Javanese motifs; the material is very probably mamas, an alloy similar to nickel silver. The blade is probably older, I cannot classify according to the Javanese system from a photo. Swords are used to kill things. The same is true of Javanese swords as is true of any other sword. Swords were and are worn by palace guards in Central Jawa, and this could be one application for this type of sword. You will see the palace soldiers wearing swords like this in the processions that mark the various high days of the palace calendar.

The blade impressions I cannot read, and it is entirely possible that nobody but the person who placed them on the blade could read them or understand their meaning. Some of the symbols give the appearance of letters, in comparison with the 9 or 10 ancient letter forms, including Kawi, and the variations of which I am aware in Modern Javanese forms (honocoroko or hanacaraka) there is too little agreement to permit any guess at what the intended meaning might be. In Jawa various groups would have their own secret language that only the members of the group could understand, so when we see inscriptions that might have been intended to have some sort of esoteric meaning very often that inscription will either be nonsense when common characters have been used to write it, or may be totally unintelligible when some form of non-standard character has been used.

1st February 2014, 08:12 PM	#3
A. G. Maisey Member Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 6,992	Yes Norman, a Javanese pedang, it is straight, thus "lurus", it is pointed and designed to stab rather than slash, so "suduk" or "tusuk". Dress appears to be 19th century, probably second half of the 19th century, might be a bit earlier or a bit later, but definitely pre-WWII; the ornamentation uses common Javanese motifs; the material is very probably mamas, an alloy similar to nickel silver. The blade is probably older, I cannot classify according to the Javanese system from a photo. Swords are used to kill things. The same is true of Javanese swords as is true of any other sword. Swords were and are worn by palace guards in Central Jawa, and this could be one application for this type of sword. You will see the palace soldiers wearing swords like this in the processions that mark the various high days of the palace calendar. The blade impressions I cannot read, and it is entirely possible that nobody but the person who placed them on the blade could read them or understand their meaning. Some of the symbols give the appearance of letters, in comparison with the 9 or 10 ancient letter forms, including Kawi, and the variations of which I am aware in Modern Javanese forms (honocoroko or hanacaraka) there is too little agreement to permit any guess at what the intended meaning might be. In Jawa various groups would have their own secret language that only the members of the group could understand, so when we see inscriptions that might have been intended to have some sort of esoteric meaning very often that inscription will either be nonsense when common characters have been used to write it, or may be totally unintelligible when some form of non-standard character has been used.