Mandau handle-connection to campilon handle

Battara · 30th August 2016, 08:30 PM

There might be a possible connection, but that would go way back to the early 16th century, where we have Spanish illustrations of Tagalogs, etc with "open mouth" hilts. This might be a general Austronesian motif at one time. It would appear that later only those on Borneo, Mindanao, and Suliwesi used the kampilan.

kai · 31st August 2016, 12:10 AM

Hello Jose,

Quote:

There might be a possible connection, but that would go way back to the early 16th century, where we have Spanish illustrations of Tagalogs, etc with "open mouth" hilts. This might be a general Austronesian motif at one time. It would appear that later only those on Borneo, Mindanao, and Suliwesi used the kampilan.

The kampilan seems pretty much limited to a tribal group and pops up where their seafarers went...

OTOH, the underlying theme of open-jaw hilts seems pervasive throughout pretty much the whole SEA archipelago (notable are the rare Toraja variants from Sulawesi for obviously depicting animal heads; too many more abstract types from all over Indonesia to mention but many definitely linked to such an origin by etymology and symbolism.

Also mandau hilts tend to exhibit lots of open jaws in their carvings; OTOH, I hardly see the tendency to carve/decorate the standard "branch" to make it appear jaw-like per se. Thus, I rather doubt there is a direct relationship/link.

BTW, possibly the same could be argued for the kampilan as well: the old-style hilt types are not very convincing in displaying an open jaw, too.

Regards,
Kai

30th August 2016, 08:30 PM	#1
Battara EAAF Staff Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Louisville, KY Posts: 7,272	There might be a possible connection, but that would go way back to the early 16th century, where we have Spanish illustrations of Tagalogs, etc with "open mouth" hilts. This might be a general Austronesian motif at one time. It would appear that later only those on Borneo, Mindanao, and Suliwesi used the kampilan.