About an unique Balinese keris motifs

David · 1st June 2022, 10:00 PM

My understanding of the word "Srigala" is that it may be a borrow word from Sanskrit and that the original word my have meant "jackal". Though i am having problems finding anything definite, From what o can tell the, Srigala is generally considered to be some kind of a wolf. But there are no wolves in Bali as far as i know or, for that matter, jackals. I suppose the word might be applied to wild dogs. But it doesn't seem that there is enough cultural attribution for Srigala for a depiction of one to end up on the gandik of perhaps the most important cultural artifact of the Balinese people. As Jean points out, this appears to be a new keris and unfortunately some folks seem willing to place just about anything on a keris these days.

1st June 2022, 10:00 PM	#3
David Keris forum moderator Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Nova Scotia Posts: 7,250	My understanding of the word "Srigala" is that it may be a borrow word from Sanskrit and that the original word my have meant "jackal". Though i am having problems finding anything definite, From what o can tell the, Srigala is generally considered to be some kind of a wolf. But there are no wolves in Bali as far as i know or, for that matter, jackals. I suppose the word might be applied to wild dogs. But it doesn't seem that there is enough cultural attribution for Srigala for a depiction of one to end up on the gandik of perhaps the most important cultural artifact of the Balinese people. As Jean points out, this appears to be a new keris and unfortunately some folks seem willing to place just about anything on a keris these days.