elsquibble

I bought this hilt to possibly go on my keris that I posted here recently(the one that has been ground to make it wavey). I paid almost nothing so no great loss if it doesn't suit.

It seems to me to be a very crude carving compared to any other examples I can see, upon comparing to some photos it looks sort of like Buta Nawasari but I am not sure. I think it is probably a very recent tourist piece but looking for any thoughts. Apologies for the bad photos I had trouble getting the detail. Thanks.

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David

I think you may be correct on all fronts. Frankly i have never seen an example of this form so crudely executed. You might well have made a better example if you carved one yourself.

Paul B.

Hmmm, I don't know what I am looking at!? It is not only crudely cut but broken too? Not worth keeping.

elsquibble

I don't think it's broken, it is hard to make it out in the photos it's easier in person. I will look for a better one and just put this one on a shelf.

Paul B.

Can see one arm and with a bit of fantasy two legs but where is the head? Here is another better example of the BN handle (recent also).

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Henk

Ready for the trash bin. Every euro spent on it was one euro too much.
Better spent a little bit more for a decent ukiran.

Paul B.

Yepp, you hit the nail.

David

I don't think it is broken Paul, just really poorly carved. The head is there, it is just thrown back and hard to see in the photos.
I'm afraid i do have to agree with my fellows here. Even at a very low price this was nothing but money thrown out the window. I do realize that different people will have different standards, but by my own this hilt is not suitable for anything beyond those fake pamor tourist keris-like-objects that you can find on eBay and in Bali marketplaces. You don't want to go overboard and buy a hilt that is far beyond the quality of the keris you are trying to dress, but if you search eBay you can probably find something suitable for this kris between $40-60usd.

Jean

If you stretch your imagination a bit, you may see it as a beautiful piece of modern art from a talented artist rather than junk, see the interpretation of the pudak flower in the back and the face for instance, it reminds me of Miro...

A. G. Maisey

Jean, I'm not going to get into any sort of discussion in respect of the artistic worth of this hilt. It is a hilt. There are artistically fine hilts, and artistically inferior hilts, and everything in between.

However, what has thrown me is your reference to "the interpretation of the pudak flower in the back".

I cannot find a pandanus flower anywhere, and frankly, if this hilt is Nawa Sari, I would not expect to.

Where is the pudak flower?

Jean

Hello Alan,
You should not take my comment too seriously, the pudak flower or else is clearly seen on the top right pic, you can distinguish the hand grasping it also....
PS: 11 posts may be sufficient for commenting on this piece?

elsquibble

Thanks everyone looks like I did well there
Like I said I don't mind as I hardly paid anything. Will be keeping an eye out for a decent hilt.

A. G. Maisey

Thank you very much Jean, you have given me the response that I was seeking:- you have clearly identified the object held by Nawa Sari as a pandanus, or pandan, or pudak flower.

However, I feel I must strenuously disagree with you that there has been sufficient discussion about this hilt. By your mention of the pudak flower you have with this single word turned this discussion in what I personally deem to be a very useful direction. Simply forget the quality or lack thereof of the hilt and focus on the idea:- we have here a representation of Nawa Sari.

Nawa Sari is frequently encountered in Bali, usually at or near the entrance to a pura (shrine, temple), sometimes near the entrance of buildings, often important buildings, sometimes government offices. In Bali Nawa Sari is regarded as one of the most powerful guardian figures, and this is his function when placed at an entrance:- he guards the entrance.

When he is employed as the hilt of a keris, his function is precisely the same as when he is placed at the entrance of a pura, that is, he guards the keris against the possibility of entry by any evil entity. The keris has the same nature as a shrine, and just as a shrine or pura must be guarded against entry by evil, so must the keris.

Now, where does the pandanus flower fit into all of this?

Well, the pandan or pudak flower was the flower used by Siwa when he was practicing his tapasya. The word "tapasya" is from the Sanscrit, and its meaning is "deep meditation". The word has come into Balinese & Javanese & Indonesian as "tapa", and has the meaning of asceticism. Asceticism is tied to the concept of deep meditation because such meditation in these places is practiced in extreme physical discomfort, even pain.

Because the pudak flower is Siwa's flower used in deep meditation, it is taken to represent Siwa himself, thus Nawa Sari is grasping behind his head a representation of Siwa and the inference is that Nawa Sari is ready to bring forth the power of Siwa against any evil entity that attempts to enter the pura, or the keris, that he is guarding.

The name "Nawa Sari" is interesting. In Balinese the word "nawa" means "nine", the word "sari" is situational and has several meanings depending upon the situation, but all these meanings can be understood to have the same essence. The meanings of the word "sari" in Balinese are understood as:- flower, pollen, mother's milk, the best of something, egg yolk, yellow, rice, coins when used in an offering.

Thus, in the context of the name "Nawa Sari", the word "sari" can be understood as "flower", so Nawa Sari : Nine Flowers. Clearly there is a deeper meaning to this name, and I am still working on the "nine", I suspect it is tied to the Balinese Trinity. I've been working on Nawa Sari for around 25 years, but I have not yet been able to get a clear explanation of the "nine" part of his name. This is one of the problems with deities in Bali, they are not regarded in the Mediterranean way, but rather in a distinctly Balinese way --- which we need not go into here.

The two images below show a somewhat sharper image of Elsquibble's Nawa Sari, and an image of Nawa Sari showing very clearly what his pudak flower should look like. This carving of Nawa Sari is situated at the entrance to a pura in Ubud, Bali.

I said I was not going to comment on the quality of the hilt under discussion, but I will say this:- in the hilt under discussion the character of the deity represented is perfectly clear, it is Nawa Sari, and it cannot be understood as anything other than Nawa Sari. If this is clear to people here, would it not also be perfectly clear to any evil entity?

Jean, I probably owe you an apology, I phrased my query on the pudak in a way that I thought would draw you out. I apologise if my wording was unsettling.

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Jean

Thank you Alan for the interesting discussion about Nawa Sari, and no apology needed

elsquibble

Very interesting information, thanks for taking the time to write all that. I'm glad I picked it up now if only to initiate an interesting discussion.

Mickey the Finn

So that's what he's holding. Based primarily on photos of fine hilts taken from sub-optimal perspectives, I had become convinced that it was the amputated lower leg of a cloven-hoofed animal he was either using as a back scratcher, or holding poised to deliver a mighty overhand swing.
I've seen many a hilt which, to me, convey the impression that the carver had arrived at a deadline, and, ready or not, that hilt was now going up on the block as-is.
This particular hilt is actually quite a good model of how I might begin roughing out a Buta Nawasari myself.
I really can't help but wonder: why didn't he finish it, or, at least put some more time into it? His return would surely have been much greater. I can think of only one possible explanation, which presupposes that the hilt was not originally carved for the purpose of selling it.

GIO

May I propose an alternative view?
This "hilt" well represents an abstract form of art. It could have been carved by Picasso some 80 years ago. Please refer to the worldwide known painting "Guernica"to see what I mean. However I advise to keep this carving well hidden in a drawer: in 100 or 200 years it could end up in a museum as an example of an "old artistic expression"....

Rick

I am on the same page you are on, Gio.
I just checked in here this morning and, yes Picasso came to my mind also, including Guernica.

A. G. Maisey

OK, so Picasso did it on one of his visits to Bali --- probably lazing on Kuta beach in between surfing (he was brave man).

Or maybe it was Antonio Blanco.

But lets just pretend that Picasso was not involved and Antonio was too busy with building his little palace.

We are all accustomed to seeing beautiful, artistically carved hilts flowing from Bali. For a long time these hilts have been produced either by fully professional artists or by talented amateurs. We tend to forget that in early Maritime South East Asia one of the measures of the sensitive nature of a man was his ability to carve his own weapon hilt and scabbard. This was the societal balance of a woman's ability to weave.

Men : carving; women : weaving.

This same measure could still be seen in operation amongst the Dyak peoples as late as the 1970's. It was one of the ways that a man or woman demonstrated their fitness for marriage.

In rural Central Jawa men will still, today, make their own keris fittings, not to demonstrate fitness for marriage, but to save money that they they cannot afford to spend.

In April of last year a Balinese gentleman gave me a hilt that he had carved, it was rather crude, he had painted it with gold paint. He was not a hilt carver, a craftsman, yes, but he did not carve hilts. In Bali, people other than professional hilt carvers also carve hilts.

My immediate impression when I first saw this hilt was that it was a learner's first attempt, or it was the product of somebody who could not afford to pay somebody else to work for him.

Jean

Examples of nice Dayak carvings and weavings...

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