Celurit and an Arit Bendo (?)

Sajen · 17th September 2023, 04:59 PM

I've recently won a German online auction an Arit Bendo (I guess) and I strongly assume that it originates from Madura when I compare it with my Celurit which I got once from Willem. Both are weapons when I am not wrong, both are heavy items, the Celurit weighs 794 gram and the Arit Bendo 812 gram.
Any ideas and opinions?

kino · 17th September 2023, 08:12 PM

Congrats Sajen.
The one with the lighter colored wood looks wicked although I wouldn’t want to be on the receiving end of the other one.

Do you have photo(s) of these being carried by the people that they’re attributed to?

A. G. Maisey · 17th September 2023, 10:25 PM

Over the years I have had a lot of celurits from Madura, none have looked like the "arit" here, however, the obvious intent of this "arit" is as a weapon, thus it would be more correct to refer to it as "celurit" (often "clurit").

An arit is a tool, yes, certainly sometimes used as a weapon, but not made as a weapon.

I have not encountered the little metal knobs in the grip of both the celurit & the bendo, I have not encountered a bendo like this one in Madura.

The bendo is pretty general throughout Jawa but in Central Jawa it was in general use as a weapon in times past --- in Surakarta the Kraton used a giant bendo as an execution tool.

As to geographic point of origin, I cannot be certain because I have not ever seen an arit, celurit or bendo precisely the same as these two items under discussion, so my comment here is only a guess.

Taking into consideration the overall form of these two items & the ornamentation on the celurit, I am inclined to nominate East Jawa, say, roughly Ponorogo through to Jember & including north & south.

These celurits were highly favoured during the Merdeka struggles, the usual method of use was to round up the people identified for execution, line them up at the edge of a mass grave & cut their throats from behind with a celurit. Looking at this example of a celurit, I think the blade angle would probably suit this mode of use quite well.

Sajen · 18th September 2023, 06:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kino

Congrats Sajen.
The one with the lighter colored wood looks wicked although I wouldn’t want to be on the receiving end of the other one.

Do you have photo(s) of these being carried by the people that they’re attributed to?

Thank you Albert! Sadly I don't have such pictures!

Regards,
Detlef

Sajen · 18th September 2023, 06:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by A. G. Maisey

Over the years I have had a lot of celurits from Madura, none have looked like the "arit" here, however, the obvious intent of this "arit" is as a weapon, thus it would be more correct to refer to it as "celurit" (often "clurit").

An arit is a tool, yes, certainly sometimes used as a weapon, but not made as a weapon.

I have not encountered the little metal knobs in the grip of both the celurit & the bendo, I have not encountered a bendo like this one in Madura.

The bendo is pretty general throughout Jawa but in Central Jawa it was in general use as a weapon in times past --- in Surakarta the Kraton used a giant bendo as an execution tool.

As to geographic point of origin, I cannot be certain because I have not ever seen an arit, celurit or bendo precisely the same as these two items under discussion, so my comment here is only a guess.

Taking into consideration the overall form of these two items & the ornamentation on the celurit, I am inclined to nominate East Jawa, say, roughly Ponorogo through to Jember & including north & south.

These celurits were highly favoured during the Merdeka struggles, the usual method of use was to round up the people identified for execution, line them up at the edge of a mass grave & cut their throats from behind with a celurit. Looking at this example of a celurit, I think the blade angle would probably suit this mode of use quite well.

Thank you Alan! These brass knobs and pins in the handles of similar blades from Madura seems to be very common, see the attached pictures from celurits from the collection of RMV Leiden, a kudi tranchang from Tatyana and a celurit as well a Arit shown in "Steel And Magic", all this examples show these knobs and pins. And all can get attributed to Madura.
But if they are from Madura or East Java, who will be sure about this?

The sword I have named "Arit Bendo" is indeed unusual and I am not aware of having seen a similar sword before. Name I have taken from the last picture.

Regards,
Detlef

A. G. Maisey · 18th September 2023, 09:27 PM

Looks like somebody else has seen the little knobs, even if I have not, so that is probably good enough to hang "Madura" on it.

But we should remember that even though some information appears in a number of sources, all those sources might come back to the same root, & that root can be incorrect or misunderstood.

As for who can be certain about any identification of anything --- & I'm not only thinking weapons & tools here --- I would say nobody can be, the name of something can change from one side of the street to the other. That's the case in Jawa, it seems less so in Bali, but my knowledge of Bali is not as strong as my knowledge of Jawa. As for other places throughout the Archipelago, I lack the necessary experience to form too many definite opinions at all.

17th September 2023, 04:59 PM	#1
Sajen Member Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Germany, Dortmund Posts: 8,483	Celurit and an Arit Bendo (?) I've recently won a German online auction an Arit Bendo (I guess) and I strongly assume that it originates from Madura when I compare it with my Celurit which I got once from Willem. Both are weapons when I am not wrong, both are heavy items, the Celurit weighs 794 gram and the Arit Bendo 812 gram. Any ideas and opinions? Attached Images

17th September 2023, 08:12 PM	#2
kino Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Posts: 973	Congrats Sajen. The one with the lighter colored wood looks wicked although I wouldn’t want to be on the receiving end of the other one. Do you have photo(s) of these being carried by the people that they’re attributed to?

17th September 2023, 10:25 PM	#3
A. G. Maisey Member Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 6,697	Over the years I have had a lot of celurits from Madura, none have looked like the "arit" here, however, the obvious intent of this "arit" is as a weapon, thus it would be more correct to refer to it as "celurit" (often "clurit"). An arit is a tool, yes, certainly sometimes used as a weapon, but not made as a weapon. I have not encountered the little metal knobs in the grip of both the celurit & the bendo, I have not encountered a bendo like this one in Madura. The bendo is pretty general throughout Jawa but in Central Jawa it was in general use as a weapon in times past --- in Surakarta the Kraton used a giant bendo as an execution tool. As to geographic point of origin, I cannot be certain because I have not ever seen an arit, celurit or bendo precisely the same as these two items under discussion, so my comment here is only a guess. Taking into consideration the overall form of these two items & the ornamentation on the celurit, I am inclined to nominate East Jawa, say, roughly Ponorogo through to Jember & including north & south. These celurits were highly favoured during the Merdeka struggles, the usual method of use was to round up the people identified for execution, line them up at the edge of a mass grave & cut their throats from behind with a celurit. Looking at this example of a celurit, I think the blade angle would probably suit this mode of use quite well.

18th September 2023, 09:27 PM	#6
A. G. Maisey Member Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 6,697	Looks like somebody else has seen the little knobs, even if I have not, so that is probably good enough to hang "Madura" on it. But we should remember that even though some information appears in a number of sources, all those sources might come back to the same root, & that root can be incorrect or misunderstood. As for who can be certain about any identification of anything --- & I'm not only thinking weapons & tools here --- I would say nobody can be, the name of something can change from one side of the street to the other. That's the case in Jawa, it seems less so in Bali, but my knowledge of Bali is not as strong as my knowledge of Jawa. As for other places throughout the Archipelago, I lack the necessary experience to form too many definite opinions at all.