The Purpose of Keris Panjang

[David]

Originally Posted by milandro

Due to the purchase of a panjan I have developed an interest in this weapon hence the resurrection of a couple of threads.

If the Panjang was the Indonesian rapier equivalent was this a weapon intended to perform as a slashing weapon, as well as a thrusting weapon ?

I read that the weapon that many consider only a status weapon , the Panjang, was actually used but wouldn't it need to be sharpened on the double edge?

I would like to hear some MORE well informed opinions, and even more I would like a video to show the handling of a Panjang as a weapon to thrust or slash or both. There are many videos on YouTube on other weapons but I failed to find this one.

I don't know of any evidence that would support the use of the panjang as a slashing weapon, nor do i believe you are likely to find any videos showing it used as a weapon. I have heard the story that it was developed because of the European rapier and i don't completely dismiss that possibility, though i also have not seen any specific evidence of it either. But even if it were, i don't believe it was ever intended to function like a rapier. The first thing we need to consider if we are even going to entertain this notion is the length of the tang and the means by which the blade is connected to the hilt. There is simply no way a keris panjang could be used as a dueling weapon with any practicality. The pesi would simply break under the pressure of slashing or clashing with another blade or the blade itself would simply fly out of its hilt.
I believe that first and foremost the panjang was a status weapon. This can be partly supported simply by the fact that there aren't nearly as many of them as their are normal length keris. It is not an everyman's keris, but one that would be carried by someone with some level of higher societial status. Of course this is only what seems logical to me, not something i can refer to any specific reference material on. I don't know that it has really been a subject that has been investigated all that much though.
Now, the panjang has been called an executioner's keris for some time, so this might point to a practical application, though not an actual martial one. My own thoughts on this are not that the panjang was specifically designed or intended for executions, but rather that it is a person of status that would have the authority to execute someone and therefore that type of blade might have been employed that way. Given the method of inserting the tip of the blade downward at the clavicle though to the heart to perform execution, the long blade of the panjang would probably serve well for this without the need for it to be particularly edge sharp. But i doubt that the vast majority of keris panjang were never used in that manner.