A Balinese Keris for Analysis

[Jean]

Originally Posted by A. G. Maisey

Charles, this is a jamprahan sarung, in olden times, say, pre-puputan, this style of sarung was normally worn by very religious people, not necessarily priests or preachers, but usually lay people who took their religious duties very seriously.

It was usually paired with a kusia hilt. The kusia hilt style is rather rare, and these days the kusia and the kocet-kocetan style are more or less considered to be the same, which they are not quite, but the difference is very slight, off the top of my head I forget exactly what the difference between the two is, something to do with the face I think, but I'd need to look it up.

I'd say either a kusia or kocet-kocetan hilt would be the hilt of choice for this sarung.

However, since this sarung is a rather recent creation I am relatively certain that it was not intended for the original purpose of this style, so an ordinary bobondolan style that was inlet to accept the selut would also be just fine.

According to the Neka book the kocet-kocetan and kusia hilts depict two different types of bugs but the most commonly accepted difference is that the name kocet-kocetan is more common in Bali, and kusia is more used in Lombok. I attach the pic of a typical hilt in this style.
Howevever I agree with Alan that since the sarung is a recent piece, any type of hilt would match, the tourist balinese krisses are usually fitted with a Nawasari style hilt, so any togogan hilt would be a good match also.
Regards

[A. G. Maisey]

Which Neka book is that Jean?

At your prompt --- ie, your mention of "the Neka book" (saved me searching) --- I opened up "Keris Bali Bersejarah", page 126, and I cannot find any mention of varying terminology in Bali & Lombok. That is not to say there is not, of course. There could be varying terminology if we walk from one side of the road to the other.

The KBB explanation of difference between Kusia & Kocet-kocetan is that Kusia does not have tusks & its face looks like the head of a butterfly, whilst the Kocet-kocetan has a face that looks like an insect with tusks or a horse with tusks.

Neka produced a few books, so maybe his explanations change depending on what he had for breakfast.

Actually, these forms do not represent bugs, or completely developed insects, they represent pupa or chrysalis, the stage before a bug becomes a bug, as such they represent change, what that change is can be interpreted in a number of ways.

[Mickey the Finn]

"Kusia" is a term I've not encountered before.
I have, however, seen photos of hilts described as "kocetan"; most have "horse heads", but a very few have "insect-like" heads. And I've read that kocetan hilts were (in pre-puputan times, if not nowadays) supposed to be owned by Brahmins more-or-less exclusively. This may or may not be true, precise, or accurate. I myself am very ignorant about religion and keris culture on Bali.
They are very striking hilts, however, and not unattractive.

[CharlesS]

Thanks for the input here gentlemen. I look forward to making the correction.

[A. G. Maisey]

Way it worked is this Mickey:-

the jamprahan sarung was for religious people (agamawan)

the jamprahan was paired with the gagang kusia

the Brahmin caste is the caste that is concerned with religion

if we are looking for God-botherers we look amongst the Brahmins, because this is where we will find the agamawan.

The "insect with tusks" is Neka's description, not mine.

[Gustav]

Jasper J.E., who started to gather his information at the very beginning of 1900'ties and published his book with Mas Pirngadie in 1930, states, that Kocet-Kocetan hilt was called Kusia in Klungkung.

He writes also, this hilt from could be made from black wood with golden ornaments or entirely in gold, made with the same process like Togog hilts.

Interestingly, the drawing of Nieuwenkamp from 1907 shows both forms, which are different indeed. In an older thread Fearn identified these forms as the pupa and adult beetle, two different stages of the same insect.

Accuracy of a drawing and of information generally can be always questioned.

[Jean]

Originally Posted by Gustav

Interestingly, the drawing of Nieuwenkamp from 1907 shows both forms, which are different indeed. In an older thread Fearn identified these forms as the pupa and adult beetle, two different stages of the same insect.

Pics of 2 different forms of hilt kocet-kocetan, and there are even more....

[kai]

Hello Gustav,

Interestingly, the drawing of Nieuwenkamp from 1907 shows both forms, which are different indeed. In an older thread Fearn identified these forms as the pupa and adult beetle, two different stages of the same insect.

These are longicorn beetles (family Cerambycidae). I believe Nieuwenkamp just shows the pupa and the imago (adult) for illustrative purposes since the adult beetles are/were fairly well known to the general audience in Europe while coming across a pupa is certainly much rarer.

Both hilts in the figure clearly represent the pupa stage (and metamorphosis/transition seems to be the main religious message associated with this style of hilt): Only in the pupa stage does the wing stick out between the second and third pair of legs (i.e. partly covering the latter) and this is a consistent feature of every hilt of decent craftsmanship that I've come across. The antennae (the long "horns" of the beetle) of a cerambicyd pupa can be more or less curled (their relative length also depends on the species) and their head is very similar to the adult. [Just search for Cerambycidae AND pupa for some pics!]

Moreover, adult beetles spread their antennae to the side or in front - not backwards (the drawing was probably taken from an entomological museum specimen with folded back antennae for handling/security/space reasons).

Thus, I assume that differences in style of these hilts is not based on any biological difference but rather cultural developments and possibly loss of knowledge with later examples. There certainly seems to be a tendency with heads kinda resembling horses(?) more and more (including added non-insect ears and facial features).

Or is this another symbolism seeping in?

Regards,
Kai

[Jean]

Originally Posted by A. G. Maisey

Which Neka book is that Jean?

At your prompt --- ie, your mention of "the Neka book" (saved me searching) --- I opened up "Keris Bali Bersejarah", page 126, and I cannot find any mention of varying terminology in Bali & Lombok. That is not to say there is not, of course. There could be varying terminology if we walk from one side of the road to the other.

Hello Alan,
In the Lombok reference book from Djelenga (published in 2000), he calls these hilts kusia also called kocet kocetan on page 293, but on page 317 he calls them kusia only.
And in his former (smaller) book published in 1993, he calls them kusia only (page 90). So it seems that the term kusia is more common in Lombok.
And despite what Neka says on page 126, all the hilts which he shows in his book are called kocet-kocetan and not kusia...
Regards