Question About SEA Armor

[rahman]

I have read that the standard court dress in Thailand was a sword (daab) and keris, which makes me wonder if there is or was a sword-and-keris technique.

Mark

I would love to get the source of your info. For some time now, I have been struggling with several references in Sejarah Melayu (The Malay Annals) and Hikayat Hang Tuah about the use of the keris panjang. These ancient classics did not refer to the keris panjang as an executioner's sword but as a slashing weapon. Hang Tuah used keris panjang to parang (slash) at a mob of 100 Majapahit warriors.

It is quite possible that this keris panjang may have been a version of the daab, with the keris as a close-quarter weapon. Interestingly, the personal keris slipped into the waistband is variously called the keris pendua (the second of a pair) or a keris pandak (pendek - short?).

I'm developing a nagging suspicion that the Malay keris as we know it today may be post-1511, after the Portugeuse invasion and the fall of Malacca.