Enquiry about a Bali keris motif

[Anthony G.]

I have taken the liberty to post this Balinese keris photo of a friend. Can anyone advise what is the motif? It does not looks like Ganesh.
Could it be Lembuswana which is a unique Indonesian mythological creature.

[David]

In all the depictions of Lembuswana that i am seeing the tusks always seem pretty prominent. But i agree that this does not seem like a depiction of Ganesha.
It's a beautiful and unusual keris.

[jagabuwana]

A type of Yali, perhaps?

From wikipedia:

Yali (Tamil: யாளி, IAST: Yāḷi),[1] also called Vyala,[2] is a Hindu mythological creature, portrayed with the head and the body of a lion, the trunk and the tusks of an elephant, and sometimes bearing equine features.[3]

That said, I know nothing about whether that fits with what we know about what figures are depicted in Balinese hinduism as it relates to the keris. I don't know if Yali's feature in Bali at all and I've never seen one being depicted on a keris, but again, I wouldn't know.

Whatever or whoever this figure is, as we've seen many times on this forum, in absence of glaringly obvious features or by-the-book details by a craftsman intending to do faithful depictions, it can be difficult and sometimes impossible to know for sure unless we ask the maker themselves.

Nevertheless I'm interested to see whether this can lead to a positive ID of this figure so that I may learn more about it.

Sources:
1. Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yali_%28mythology
2. Wikicommons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/F...anthapuram.jpg

[Anthony G.]

Originally Posted by jagabuwana

A type of Yali, perhaps?

From wikipedia:

Yali (Tamil: யாளி, IAST: Yāḷi),[1] also called Vyala,[2] is a Hindu mythological creature, portrayed with the head and the body of a lion, the trunk and the tusks of an elephant, and sometimes bearing equine features.[3]

That said, I know nothing about whether that fits with what we know about what figures are depicted in Balinese hinduism as it relates to the keris. I don't know if Yali's feature in Bali at all and I've never seen one being depicted on a keris, but again, I wouldn't know.

Whatever or whoever this figure is, as we've seen many times on this forum, in absence of glaringly obvious features or by-the-book details by a craftsman intending to do faithful depictions, it can be difficult and sometimes impossible to know for sure unless we ask the maker themselves.

Nevertheless I'm interested to see whether this can lead to a positive ID of this figure so that I may learn more about it.

Sources:
1. Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yali_%28mythology
2. Wikicommons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/F...anthapuram.jpg

Looks very much like it. Interesting.

[JoeCanada42]

what a cool sword,
so very very interesting...

[milandro]

I think the first link isn't displaying the way it should , I've tried to help but returns the same result ( it asks did you mean Did you mean: Yali (mythology)? and you have to click that one)




this is a rather more elaborate page

https://viluptduniya.wordpress.com/2...the-protector/

[David]

Originally Posted by jagabuwana

A type of Yali, perhaps?

From wikipedia:

Yali (Tamil: யாளி, IAST: Yāḷi),[1] also called Vyala,[2] is a Hindu mythological creature, portrayed with the head and the body of a lion, the trunk and the tusks of an elephant, and sometimes bearing equine features.[3]

That said, I know nothing about whether that fits with what we know about what figures are depicted in Balinese hinduism as it relates to the keris. I don't know if Yali's feature in Bali at all and I've never seen one being depicted on a keris, but again, I wouldn't know.

Whatever or whoever this figure is, as we've seen many times on this forum, in absence of glaringly obvious features or by-the-book details by a craftsman intending to do faithful depictions, it can be difficult and sometimes impossible to know for sure unless we ask the maker themselves.

Nevertheless I'm interested to see whether this can lead to a positive ID of this figure so that I may learn more about it.

Sources:
1. Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yali_%28mythology
2. Wikicommons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/F...anthapuram.jpg

Yes as you question and Alan has pointed out, Hinduism is not necessarily the same in India as in Bali and i have yet to see images that depict this creature from Bali. But this does seem a good match.
I also agree with Alan that this keris is not super old, though i do suspect it is antique and if not than at least pre-WWII. Anthony, perhaps you can post the rest of the images of this keris so that people can get a better idea of it's over all appearance and possible age.

[A. G. Maisey]

For me, one very troubling feature of this keris is the obvious replacement of the gonjo.

The material used is not at all what I would expect to see in even a halfway competent restoration, it looks more like a deliberate attempt to deceive:-

old keris often have the gonjo replaced so let's make that replacement so obvious that even Blind Freddy cannot miss it; & they sure managed that:- spongy, half washed iron, deep acid aging.

Too, too obvious. But maybe only to somebody who has had close contact with the Shonky Boys in certain markets of Central & East Jawa.

But then again, I do tend to doubt almost everything.

It would be useful to see the entire blade & together with its dress.

[Anthony G.]

Hi All

rest of available photos, pics not mine and courtesy of the owner.