Miniature Bali Belakas Pengentas??

[A. G. Maisey]

Athanase, I have seen a few of these, they are a legitimate part of Balinese culture.

I have not previously posted to this thread because I really do not know much about them, and I had hoped that somebody else might know more than I do and would be able to respond better to your question.

In about 1982 I visited Mangku Pande Made Wija who lived in a little village just outside Klungkung. He had just completed a keris that Dietrich Drescher had ordered from him, and he asked me to advise Mr Drescher that it was ready for him to collect. I examined the keris and complemented Pande Wija on his work.

I then asked what sort of things he usually made, and he showed me a basketfull of axe blades of the type you have, but they were not yet decorated with silver.

I asked what these were used for, and he gave me a long complicated response that I did not fully understand, but the impression I got was that they were for use in cremation ceremonies, mainly for cutting the ropes that bind up a corpse.

The rather poor photo (2011) of a much more elaborate example of the same type of hand axe in the Den Pasar Museum supports my understanding of Pande Wija's explanation.

I have never seen this type of hand axe for sale in markets in Bali, neither local markets nor tourist markets.