PARANG PANDIT

[tom hyle]

OMG what a cool sword!!!!! I have so much to say I'm liable to forget 1/2 of it plus I'm in a room with friends to distract me.
OMG OMG OMG
OK
OK calm down, Tom!
Beautiful swords!
I find a resemblance to the wierd big Naga sword with the iron handle and integral crossguard; no? Are these super-rare and perhaps ceremonial, like those?
What relation of Nagas and Dyaks, ethno-historically? Other than the handle, seems to be a pretty straitforward parang latok in concept, and so in use? But note how it's dangling "backwards" from the man's hand; is this a method of use or is this how it's carried?
Are the crossguards used for control like the "finger" on a pinegas?
OMG!!!!!!!

When cutting with parang latok/parang lading, as with other swords that curve, bend, or lean back (kilij is particularly similar, while this is often spoken/written of in N America in reference to Japanese swords) the back-wards angle to the blade causes it to pull thru the target with a slashlike action, even when the hand action is a simple "hack".