B a d i k

[ganjawulung]

Dear All,
I hope I don't break the forum rules, by posting these kinds of badiks. Is there any one of you who can explain the details of these badiks? The second one is like the form of "pedang sabet suduk" (kind of sword, for whipping and stabbing?) which you can often found in the old Javanese swords...

Ganjawulung

[Marcokeris]

Dear Ganja
I don't know well badik. I have only one jawa badik. It seems similar to yours.
The hit is made by bufalo horn, sarong is made by two kinds of wood (one timoho the other i dont know),pamor is Kulit S.
Marco

[VVV]

Ganja,

Very nice collection!
The top Badik resembles the ones from Makassar, Sulawesi.
But I have so far only seen them with repoussed silver dress.
Do you know anything about it's origin?

Michael

[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?

[Queequeg]

KuKulzA28,

I once explained a little bit about the badik HERE. I hope that helps.

[KuKulzA28]

Ah, thanks Queequeg (Panday?)!

"Badiks are stabbing knives used in close quarters, and brought into action from the intended victim's side or rear. Once the stab has landed, the user slashes with it instead of simply withdrawing it from the same wound."
~ The Panday's Gazette

Perhaps I'll have to get the The Weapons and Fighting Arts of Indonesia book myself one of these days and sit down for a good read. I've read you have some Pekiti-Tersia-Kali training? Does it give you any additional insight into this weapon?
I notice the interesting way the man holds the Badik... I wonder why the Bugis didn't make longer handles to accommodate a fist - maybe there was a good reason for that? More control over the stab when the thumb and index are placed so?
If anyone else has comments please share! Scholars and fighters all, the more the merrier.

[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

[KuKulzA28]

those are very beautiful Badiks.

Were the pretty ones used by wealthier individuals, or simply worn by wealthier individuals during formal events?

[Sajen]

Originally Posted by KuKulzA28

those are very beautiful Badiks.

Were the pretty ones used by wealthier individuals, or simply worn by wealthier individuals during formal events?

I think it's the same like today, the wealthier persons drive expensive cars and the poor ones cheap cars!
When I look to the one with ivory handle (from hippotamus), it have a well used patination. So my guess is that it have been a dagger for every day from a rich man. In down from the sheat it is dated: 16.8.38. Maybe from 1838 or 1938, who know's?
sajen

[KuKulzA28]

Ah well that makes sense...

I wonder, if Badiks were widespread amongst the Bugis, many Bugis must have known how to use it - right? If so, Bugis silat should have training with regards to it... cause once one has the form and technique, the attacking itself is somewhat easy I would assume... it's the targets, the evasions, and the countering that would be trickier... the art in the art of knife-fighting, right?

Also was it a concealed knife or one tucked away? I mean if everyone carried a knife or a gun, we'd know everyone had something but not where. If we all carried it the same way, just not too conspicuously, that'd be another story.

On the side... seems like the pisau, tumbuk lada, and sewar probably have a similar usage as the badik right?

[Sajen]

Originally Posted by KuKulzA28

Ah well that makes sense...
On the side... seems like the pisau, tumbuk lada, and sewar probably have a similar usage as the badik right?

This guess is nearby, I would agree.

[PenangsangII]

to a Buginese/Makassarese, badik is "man's best friend"..... It's always carried wherever and whenever a man goes out.... even in his sleep, a badik is still tucked under his pillow

[KuKulzA28]

Originally Posted by PenangsangII

to a Buginese/Makassarese, badik is "man's best friend"..... It's always carried wherever and whenever a man goes out.... even in his sleep, a badik is still tucked under his pillow

Is that still the case or did most Buginese and Makassarese let go of this old way and the Badik?

[Sajen]

Originally Posted by KuKulzA28

Is that still the case or did most Buginese and Makassarese let go of this old way and the Badik?

When I have been in Makassar three years ago I haven't seen people with a badik.
sajen

[KuKulzA28]

Originally Posted by Sajen

When I have been in Makassar three years ago I haven't seen people with a badik.
sajen

Ah, figures... it was a Buginese/Makassarese man's best-friend

[Sajen]

Originally Posted by KuKulzA28

Ah, figures... it was a Buginese/Makassarese man's best-friend

Makassar is a big city, maybe in the country they still wear it, I don't know about!
sajen

[KuKulzA28]

Originally Posted by Sajen

Makassar is a big city, maybe in the country they still wear it, I don't know about!
sajen

Good point! How traditional do you think Indonesia's countrysides are? Rapidly modernizing? Parangs, T-shirts, posters, cell-phones, carabao, wooden homes with corrugated sheet metal roofing?

[Sajen]

Originally Posted by KuKulzA28

Good point! How traditional do you think Indonesia's countrysides are? Rapidly modernizing? Parangs, T-shirts, posters, cell-phones, carabao, wooden homes with corrugated sheet metal roofing?

When I look to the home island from wife, Halmahera, it's still very traditional, on the other side: by my first visit you don't have had a cell-net, two years later you can nearly everywhere phone with cell. And everywhere plastic. But still many traditional being. I married my wife over there in traditional way, a "party" over three days. And a big Cakalele dance!!
Here some pics from 2006 for better understanding.
Pic 1: a market scene in Tobelo, the biggest city on Halmahera
Pic 2: village on a very small island by Halmahera
Pic 3: a "cow-lorry"
Pic 4: view from Halmahera to Ternate
When I see now the pictures I want to be there!
sajen