Two Tajong?

[Jeff Pringle]

"Pekaka" is not the correct term to use for tajong hilts.

I’ve gotten the feeling from the last week of occasional websurfing on the subject of keris that it could be an endlessly fascinating subject of study. Coming from my (perhaps western?) inclination to understand things by appending names to them (or rather, “find the correct name and you understand the thing” sort of thinking, which is not my only goal in understanding things (especially patterned steel & traditionally made tools ), but which may form the framework on which I hang my understanding, you understand ), the complete, overlapping sets of jargon and multiple points of view combined with the multifarious variation of form, intricate delicacy of execution and astonishing dedication to the spirit of the steel by generations of remarkably skilled smiths is quite bewildering & kinda cool.

But it tends to make the answer to the questions “what are these, where and when were they made?” somewhat elusive. A survey of what is easily available on the web reveals that the keris with the darker hilt has a blade conforming to the Patani tajong norm, but the sheath is non-standard (although common enough in conjunction with the hilt, see for example:
http://www.klefisch.com/index.php?pa...=1&itemid=4580
and:
http://www.antiqueswords.com/bq1050.htm )
The lighter-color, more nicely carved hilt with the more tajong-standard scabbard has a non-standard blade, or so it seems…which all makes sense, perhaps- looking at blades of other cultures around the world the blade is the important part, and nice blades might get to cycle through several hilts and sheaths over their useful life, so one would not expect neat, tidy packages all the time, but just how peripatetic were these keris over the last few hundred years? My point of view is, of course, skewed by whatever info is on the web right now, so it’s hard to gauge the relative import of information like the second link above – Sumatran?! The rest of the info points towards a peninsular origin for this style, what’s up? How far into the islands do these hilts go? Far enough to get scabbards from Sulawesi? What makes that one Sumatran?
Pardon my confusion, you are probably not enjoying it as much as I am!

I like Garuda

The tajong form is unique to Kelantan and Pattani. Those tajong-like hilts found in Sumatra or Kalimantan are most likely copies of the archetypal form found in Kelantan/Pattani.

Yes, this makes sense, but are the hilts that started this discussion tajong (they seem to be, based on various web photos)? and do non-standard sheaths and/or blades make them not tajong? ...or is that just a clueless way to look at it?

[BluErf]

Hi ganjawulung,

There is quite a fair bit of confusion in the current literature on what is a pekaka hilt and what is a tajong hilt. I have the good fortune of knowing a number of established collectors from Kelantan/Terengganu, one of whom is a carver who studied the tajong and other North Malayan kerises extensively. I am also lucky enough to be able to see his very extensive collection (possibly the most comprehensive and high quality North Malayan keris collection in existence). Based on what I have learnt from these established North Malaysians (who are Malays), the norm in North Malaysia/South Thailand on what is a tajong and what is a pekaka, is as I have described in my post above. Given that the tajong and the pekaka is an "indigenous form" to those areas, we'd give respect to these native, established collectors/scholars' take on the subject. Certainly, they did not make up the names, nor randomly assigned them, but learnt them from their seniors and teachers.

For a definitive look at the tajong (and to a smaller extent, the pekaka), I strongly recommend the following book:

http://www.amazon.com/Spirit-Wood-Ar.../dp/0794601030

A small part of my friend's collection is featured in this book.


Hi Jeff,

Your tajong hilts are the real stuff. The blades you have shown in the 2 links above are not the normal type of blade normally associated as tajongs. The most common forms are the straight "pandai saras" blade form, followed by the wavy "pandai saras" blade form and the "carita" blade form, in approximately similar rarity. Please note that the use of the term "carita" (pronounced "cher-rita") is not the same as the Javanese context. "Carita" in the Malay keris world refers to blades with shallow fullers running nearly the full length of the blade. If the fullers had been deeper, they would be called "melela". Again "melala" here is different from the "melela" used in the Javanese context, which is often used to describe "besi melela", or metal without visible pamor patterns. I am not good with Javanese kerises, so I would defer the explanations on these to the other members who are more knowledgeable in Javanese kerises.

Anyway, the 3 common keris forms for tajongs are attached below. Please ignore the hilts, as these hilts (of the jawa demam form) can also be appropriately paired with such blades, but then of course, the keris would not be called a tajong. There are other Malay keris forms found on tajongs, but would be the exception, rather than the rule.

Kerises and keris parts travel in the archipelago. This exchange of parts is also what fuels the exchange of aesthetics and forms, contributing to the variation of keris blades and keris dress/hilt forms, and they also cause mis-matched kerises to turn up all the time. And of course, we cannot discount dealers and collectors who swap hilts and blades around for all sorts of reasons, even if they don't really conform to the archetypal forms. I'm afraid your question would not be easily answered. You have to learn from good books, good teachers, and from handling as many kerises as you can, and that is a long hard but fun road.

A proper tajong - hilt, sheath and blade - is illustrated in the 4th and 5th pic. Arguably, the defining characteristics of a tajong are the hilt and the sheath. Any other types of hilts and sheaths would make it hard for us to call the resulting keris a proper tajong. Note that Northern Malay aesthetics dictates that the sheath must be long and lanky, with the sheath stem much longer than the blade. I have seen some people (I refuse to call them "collectors") shorten the stem so that it is just slightly longer than the blade. This was because they liked the keris that way. But in my opinion, that is just destroying the original aesthetics of the tajong keris, not to mention, ruining a perfectly good antique sheath.