Parang Negara/Muslim Mandau

[Mytribalworld]

Originally Posted by VVV

Here is a new find - a mandau of the Muslim Dayak from outside Negara/Banjarmasin aka parang Negara
Floral instead of aso-motifs and a heavy, but non-concave/convex blade with a sharp back-edge at the tip.
The scabbard is made of tigerstriped wood and the ferrule is old style brass.

I would love to see other examples from the forumites of this parang.

Michael

Hi Michael,

There are some variations on this mandau, but mostly the hilt has that remarkable leaflike motif what mostly painted red.
Blades mostly has "bloodgrooves" but one of my "mandau's" has a normal mandaublade with inlay.
The other has an typical parang negara blade. Its seems that there was an high production of sword blades in Negara if we may believe old writers.
With quite primitive tools they talk about an industry of rifle barrels and swordblades of a few thousands each year.
Maybe they are also talking about the more common Parang Nabur in that case. What curious about these swords is that they are used by a mixed culture of Malay-Muslim-Dayak what clearly visable in the design of these swords.

Arjan.