reversed hilt on palembang keris

[Jean]

Originally Posted by Alam Shah

While I was in Jakarta last year at a keris event (KFTW), I've talked to a dealer from Pasemah. He was showing his items for sale and I've noticed quite a fair bit of this form. However, I've not been to Pasemah. Currently, I was told there's a research group studying Sumatran keris. Hopefully we'll see the findings converted into a book.

Pasemah is not a city but an ethnic group living in the Western hills of South Sumatra and the name of the area (Pasemah plateau) is derived from this group. I did not visit the area as well but heard from several sources in Indonesia that this style of Durga? hilt originates from Bengkulu, a large city on the West coast of South Sumatra and not far from the Pasemah area.