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Originally Posted by Jim McDougall
Aleksey has asked a very interesting question here, and I'm surprised nobody has answered with all the expertise here in this field.
While way outside my usual fields of study, it seems that these transverse lines in numerics of three usually ? do occur on various SE Asian swords. I've see them on dha, and some others, but usually scribed lines, not brass filled.
In Borneo there are often pierced holes in many parang ihlang, which are sometimes filled with brass but as if some are filled while some arent. Some have suggested these as tally numbers, but I dont think that has been generally accepted.
Best regards,
Jim
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It seems that nobody "knows" for sure why so thatīs why there hasnīt been any answers.
There are however some speculations that I find the most probable.
Like I wrote before it looks nice and it could have talismanic meanings.
Some probable talismanic meanings could be:
- the belief that some people are invulnerable to steel. This means that the sword needs to have another metal in it to be able to hurt them.
- the inlay metal could come from a source imbued with special powers.
- the inlay in numbers also have an esoteric meaning like AUM (=3), the trisula (=3), the Archangels (4) etc.
Thatīs my ideas based on what I have found in the different sources on local beliefs within this region.
Michael