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#1 |
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I recently added a remarkable spear to my collection.
Total length: 239 cm Length spearhead: 20 cm Length shaft: 219 cm Length sleeve: 33 cm The shaft is plain over the whole length. Does anyone more about this type? My guess would be a kind of ceremonial spear from Java. Who can tell anything more? |
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#2 |
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Join Date: Jun 2009
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It is is a shape called Nenggala. Ones made of iron were used as weapons at Raffles time. They can be found in Central Java and Pasisir, and I have seen one like yours, Besi Kuning, collected in Borneo.
Last edited by Gustav; 4th August 2023 at 11:26 AM. |
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#3 | |
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I am very curious if anyone else has a similar one is his collection. |
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#4 |
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#5 |
Vikingsword Staff
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Albert, are parts of the blade gilded. If so, that suggests a ceremonial role to me. The blade reminds me a little bit of an African throwing knife.
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#6 |
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Nenggala is, I believe, North Coast Jawa terminology for this blade form, in Central Jawa it is known as a "Cis" (pron. : "chis"). The Javanese word "cis" means "angkus" or "elephant goad".
In East Jawa it is known as "pancing buaya" = "crocodile fish hook", for the very good reason that it was used as a crocodile spear. In parts of East Jawa these were still being made & used as crocodile spears up until about 1950. Interestingly, the word "nenggala" means "plough" in some dialects & in Balinese, it does not take much imagination to understand the similarity in form of this blade shape to the shape of a Javanese/Balinese plough blade. Gustav Do we know where in Raffles that this word "nenggala" appears, & if it is connected to a picture of the implement under discussion? Amongst the plates following P296, Vol.1 there is picture of a spear that has a "forked" head, both double & single examples, that is very vaguely similar to the nenggala, but it is identified as a "tumpuling". This name might indicate it is some sort of hunting spear : "tumpu/numpu" means to hunt , I think specifically to hunt deer --- these are guesses, but informed guesses. Last edited by A. G. Maisey; 4th August 2023 at 09:22 AM. |
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#7 |
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Alan,
I couldn't find the name Nenggala in Raffles' book. Regarding Tumpuling, there is a similar spear in Radya Pustaka Museum, in it's description it is called Cempuling. Wiktionary says, Cempuling is a variation of Tempuling (https://id.wiktionary.org/wiki/cempuling), and Tempuling is given as tombak pendek untuk menangkap ikan besar, short spear for catching big fish. |
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#8 |
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#9 |
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