Nias Keris (?)

[BluErf]

Would be useful to know what native Nias people call it.

[ThePepperSkull]

It may not be a Keris, but it in a very beautiful shape. I wonder what the Nias call it, and what significance it holds to the culture.

[Amuk Murugul]

Hullo everybody,

Not my area..... but I believe that Maurice's piece, shown via tunggulametung's link, is referred to as: Se/Si Euli.

Here's my contribution. Sorry for the bad quality..... but I haven't time.

Best,

[Alam Shah]

Originally Posted by Amuk Murugul

Hullo everybody,

Not my area..... but I believe that Maurice's piece, shown via tunggulametung's link, is referred to as: Se/Si Euli.

Here's my contribution. Sorry for the bad quality..... but I haven't time.

Best,

Yes, I've heard it called Se/Si Euli. The picture is fine, but typically, the blades that I've seen, 3 examples (at different times and places), all sports a similar blade like Maurice's example, without pamor. Although, blade shapes are somewhat a little different. Your hilt and blade are very different. The hilt with a human figure, looks somewhat Batak-like to me. Perhaps, an example of a newer adaptation of the weapon. The hilt, ('Nio' the general term used for a hilt in Nias).. does not looks like the general Nias archetype.

Si Euli examples can be found in Zonneveld's Traditional Weapons of the Indonesian Archipelago, pg 123-124.

[Mytribalworld]

Originally Posted by Alam Shah

Yes, I've heard it called Se/Si Euli. The picture is fine, but typically, the blades that I've seen, 3 examples (at different times and places), all sports a similar blade like Maurice's example, without pamor. Although, blade shapes are somewhat a little different. Your hilt and blade are very different. The hilt with a human figure, looks somewhat Batak-like to me. Perhaps, an example of a newer adaptation of the weapon. The hilt, ('Nio' the general term used for a hilt in Nias).. does not looks like the general Nias archetype.

Si Euli examples can be found in Zonneveld's Traditional Weapons of the Indonesian Archipelago, pg 123-124.

According to Elio Modigliani in " Un Viaggio a Nias" they are just knifes with a plain blade ( The Niha didn't made pamor blades) but is the scabbard shape meant to imitate the keris scabbards.

a nice exmple is this one form the museum in Amsterdam

regards,

Arjan

[Alam Shah]

Originally Posted by mandaukudi

According to Elio Modigliani in " Un Viaggio a Nias" they are just knifes with a plain blade ( The Niha didn't made pamor blades) but is the scabbard shape meant to imitate the keris scabbards.

Thanks Arjan.. exactly what I meant earlier. Those that said it's a keris probably haven't seen the blade.

For those who have a copy of Karsten Sejr Jensen's "Den Indonesiske Kris -et symbolladet vaben", is there a picture of the Nias blade in it?

[kai]

According to Elio Modigliani in " Un Viaggio a Nias" they are just knifes with a plain blade ( The Niha didn't made pamor blades) but is the scabbard shape meant to imitate the keris scabbards.

Any laminated blade has pamor (however weak) and I believe that anybody would be misled when assuming that the absence of any bold pamor would help to exclude these blades from being keris...

Regards,
Kai

[VVV]

Here are the blades of 3 of my Si Euli. I am travelling at the moment so I don't have any possibility to take better pictures but I hope they are good enough as examples for this thread. The 4 other antique ones I have seen all had the same kind of plain blades as mine (as Arjan indicated).
I agree with Kai that they seems to be closer to a local variation of the sewar than the keris. Probably the keris like ones are exceptions, based on their rarity in old collections?

Michael

[kai]

Originally Posted by Alam Shah

Your hilt and blade are very different. The hilt with a human figure, looks somewhat Batak-like to me. Perhaps, an example of a newer adaptation of the weapon. The hilt, ('Nio' the general term used for a hilt in Nias).. does not looks like the general Nias archetype.

Yes, this looks off and newly done. I believe this isn't genuine Nias work.

Regards,
Kai