Balinese hulu identification

[Anthony G.]

Demon, Deity?

[Rick]

Fangs?
I'd guess demon.
This little fellow below seems to be a relative of his.

[Anthony G.]

Originally Posted by Rick

Fangs?
I'd guess demon.
This little fellow below seems to be a relative of his.

Nice old Balinese keris you got there, Rick.

Btw, do you know the actual name and role of that demon in Hindu culture?

[David]

I agree with Rick. Generally fangs designate a figure as a “demon” so I would be likely to place this one there.
We have had the discussion numerous times regarding the difficulty in making positive identification of Bali togogan hilts, especially newer ones since many contemporary carvers don’t necessarily stick to strick traditional patterns, but I am sure I have seen this particular naked demon child before in older hilts. So maybe we have hope for a reasonable ID with this one. Can’t say I know it yet though.

[milandro]

Indeed I run a search ad there are many examples on line of this type of hilt, whether with or without fangs, the Pot bellied “ baby” showing his genitals is a rather“ common” image.

Despite this, no one (even among the experts of famous auction houses ) seem to have found a “ name”

The Tropen Museum of Amsterdam has one in its collection too.
“..'Ivory kris hilt representing an evil spirit', 1800-1900, ivory, 10.2 cm height, accession number 809-219a, collection of the Tropenmuseum, Amsterdam...”

I find very interesting that many describe the figurine as “ sitting on a flower bed” but to me there seems to be a relation between the position of the exposed penis and the direction of the “ flow” of what looks like bubbles or flowers.

[Jean]

Originally Posted by milandro

Despite this, no one (even among the experts of famous auction houses ) seem to have found a “ name”

Pff, Rare Kumara or Sang Hyang Kumara or Detya Rare, etc.

[David]

Originally Posted by milandro

I find very interesting that many describe the figurine as “ sitting on a flower bed” but to me there seems to be a relation between the position of the exposed penis and the direction of the “ flow” of what looks like bubbles or flowers.

As with many things Indonesian there is probably more than one meaning at work here, but i believe that what you refer to is probably firstly meant to represent the Tumpal Throne that we see in many Bali hilts as well as a few Javanese ones. But given the positioning off the figure it does often seem to look like a flow of the figures urine.
I found this article discussing this little fellow as well.
https://issuu.com/armscavalcade/docs...020/s/11135230

[Rick]

Originally Posted by Anthony G.

Nice old Balinese keris you got there, Rick.

Btw, do you know the actual name and role of that demon in Hindu culture?

Hi Anthony,
I'm not sure this is a Bali keris. I think possibly its source may be Lombok.
These Iras blades turn up now and then, but not too often, the style, (is this the word I'm looking for?) certainly seems consistent. I'd almost think that the same Smith may have made more than a few of this construction. This keris is discussed in the forum archives.

Anyway, back to the totogan discussion.

[Anthony G.]

Originally Posted by Rick

Hi Anthony,
I'm not sure this is a Bali keris. I think possibly its source may be Lombok.
These Iras blades turn up now and then, but not too often, the style, (is this the word I'm looking for?) certainly seems consistent. I'd almost think that the same Smith may have made more than a few of this construction. This keris is discussed in the forum archives.

Anyway, back to the totogan discussion.

Thanks for the info.

[Jean]

A typical specimen of the "demonic boy". According to some sources, he is the son of Shiva and Parvati, and hence the brother of Ganesha. What an odd family!