B a d i k

[Sajen]

Originally Posted by KuKulzA28

Hope no one is bothered that I've resurrected this thread...

I was wondering, how exactly is a Badik used and/or taught traditionally? Just looking at them I can tell they are for punch-stabs, maybe cuts to vulnerable flesh - but mostly thrusts. Are they for death-matches? Assassination? Self-defense? Side-arm in combat? I can see them being very effective for any of those roles. I can also see that they are very limited in their application - it seems to be a purely thrusting knife for fighting. Due to it's size it looks like it'd be used in knees/elbows/throwing/locking range - do traditional Bugis silat styles reflect this? Does it even have a place in Sulawesi silat or is it just a simple "shanker" in application?

I can't answer your questions with assurance. But I think that a Badik is a side-arm for self-defence or combat same like the simple Keris from Bugis. And that it also can be a status symbol when you look to high class pieces like the one at the second place from the left in my pictures or the one just ended on e-bay:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...m=120412868932
regards,
sajen