Janggelan Hilt

[A. G. Maisey]

I suppose it could have been written by Toni Junus, I do not have it at the moment and I cannot recall all the details, if in fact I ever read them.

However, it does have the Wiriyadi name on the cover, if Junus wrote the text my guess is that Wiryadi supplied the hilts from his own collection, along with notes, and then Junus turned it into text, he probably would have needed to do some on-the-ground research too I reckon.

It is a very well produced book, high quality photography and printing, I think it is in English and BI --- I really cannot recall what language it is written in, I've perused this book, but have not read it in detail and made notes. If the binding was done in Indonesia it is likely to become loose (ie, "shaken") pretty quickly.

There are not an enormous number of hilts shown in this book, but what hilts are shown are very good examples.

I would unhesitatingly recommend this book to anybody with an interest in the subject.

I cannot supply publisher's detail at the moment because I do not have the book at hand at the moment, I'll see if I can get those details later today.

EDIT

Jean, the book details as requested:-

"Persona Hulu Keris/The Beauty of Kris Hilt"
From the collection of Aswin Wirjadi
Parallel text:- Bahasa Indonesia/English
Publisher:- PT Indonesia Kebanggaanku,Gedung Caraka,
Jln. Nangka - TB, Simatupang Kav.7, Jakarta 12530
ISBN 978-979-25-2533-5

[Jean]

Thank you Alan, and it seems that I may have had a wrong impression about this book ("picture book") when it was published....

[A. G. Maisey]

Yeah, not just a picture book Jean, it is reasonably heavy on text, but as I said, I haven't read it yet, I've flicked through it a couple of times though, and I feel it might be worth reading, which I will do when I have nothing else to do.

[Interested Party]

I hope this post finds all our forum members well.

So I have been reading Tammens' first book and as always a different source has led to enlightenment and confusion. On page 148 there is a picture of a very similar hilt labeled Nunggak Semi Java. When I searched it in the Forum it seemed to often be used to refer to Planar style hilts. Is Nunggak a generic term for a Javanese hilt or is there a more specific meaning?

The second question is for our more gifted linguists who read Dutch and have read Tammens. Is the English translation parallel to the Dutch or a synopsis that leaves out many details?

Thanks for anyone who can help my candle shine under a bushel.

[Jean]

The kris books from Ir Tammens (PBUH) are a highly reputed reference source especially in the NL but not exempt from mistakes or confusions as nobody is perfect.
AFAIK Nunggak Semi or Tunggak Semi means "sprouting tree trunk" or "stump with a new sprout" and depicts the standard planar hilts from Central Java or East Java indeed.
Yes, the Dutch translation into English is correct in this case.
Regards

[A. G. Maisey]

I'm going to disagree with you Jean, and this disagreement is one that will put me in disagreement with many people.

Firstly, there is the name itself of this hilt.
It is variously rendered as "nunggak semi" and "tunggak semi". In Javanese "nunggak semi" means to have the same title as one's father and grandfather, the second meaning is to be stuck in one place, not to move forward, for example, a middle manager who made department head at 30, and retired from the same position at 55.

"Tunggak semi" means a tree stump with a new shoot; "tunggak" is "tree stump".

Now, in 1755 when Central Jawa was partitioned by the Dutch, agreement was reached between two divisions of the House of Mataram that each kraton would adopt a dress style that differed from the other. The mainline and original House of Mataram was located in the area of Solo at the Karaton Surakarta Hadiningrat, the new division of the House of Mataram that had been created by the Dutch overlords was located about 40 miles away, a few miles from the old site of the Karaton of the Second Kingdom of Mataram which had been at the village of Kota Gede.

This new location for the new kraton was named Ngayogyakarta (Ngayogyokerto), it was so named as a Javanese reference to the name "Ayodhya", the birth place of Rama, of Ramayana fame. This name was too difficult for the Dutch so they shortened it to Yogyakarta, which became Jogjakarta after Indonesian adoption of the English based spelling system to replace the Dutch based system, in 1972. Presently Jogjakarta gets abbreviated to "Jogja", most Javanese still refer to Jogja as Ngayogyakarta and abbreviate this to "Yogyo".

So, the new Kraton at Ngayogyakarta was indeed a "NEW SHOOT" from the "OLD STUMP" of Surakarta, and the name adopted for the new hilt style chosen by the Ngayogyakarta Kraton was "Tunggak Semi":- "a new shoot on an old stump".

Amongst keris people in Solo during the 1970's through to about year 2000, it was deemed to be somewhat insulting to refer to a Surakarta planar hilt as a "Tunggak Semi" hilt.

However, I note that at the present time our learned new generation applies the name "Tunggak Semi" to all planar hilts, no matter the form or the point of origin.

From the perspective of Surakarta tradition, this is not only wrong, but can be regarded as insulting.

In spite of recent events, the Surakarta line is still the original line of the House of Mataram.

EDIT

Oh yes, nearly forgot.

The hilt shown in Foto 18 of Tammens, is a North Coast Janggelan, it is also found in East Jawa and Madura.

It is most definitely not "nunggak" semi, nor is it tunggak semi, nor is it planar.

[Jean]

Originally Posted by A. G. Maisey

I'm going to disagree with you Jean, and this disagreement is one that will put me in disagreement with many people.

Firstly, there is the name itself of this hilt.
It is variously rendered as "nunggak semi" and "tunggak semi". In Javanese "nunggak semi" means to have the same title as one's father and grandfather, the second meaning is to be stuck in one place, not to move forward, for example, a middle manager who made department head at 30, and retired from the same position at 55.

"Tunggak semi" means a tree stump with a new shoot; "tunggak" is "tree stump".

Thank you for the clarification Alan (you already mentioned it to me earlier), as I said nobody is perfect, but what matters is that the identification of the hilt in question was not correct.
Regards

[Interested Party]

Originally Posted by Jean

The kris books from Ir Tammens (PBUH) are a highly reputed reference source especially in the NL but not exempt from mistakes or confusions as nobody is perfect.

Yes, the Dutch translation into English is correct in this case.
Regards

Jean, no insult towards Tammens' scholarship was intended. I just noticed that the Dutch seemed to contain more text and that he seemed to reference previously mentioned anecdotes I couldn't find. It made me wonder what I was missing. Thank you for answering and putting my mind at ease. No more FOMO.

Alan, thanks as always for a thoughtful explanation. I learn a lot from your and Jean's discussions. I had hoped I had found a neat answer to the inadequacies of the jangallan name, and then with a bit of searching the forum my hopes were dashed.

In late northern hemisphere spring or whenever the next big shutdown happens I should get a chance to give the op blade a good cleaning and possibly a stain to see what it really look like, as recommended earlier.

[Jean]

Originally Posted by Interested Party

Jean, no insult towards Tammens' scholarship was intended.

Of course I also did not intend to insult Tammens's work, I consider him as a great Western master and pioneer for kris collectors
And my reply applied to the translation of the hilt description only, not the other texts.