Balinese Barong Handle

[A. G. Maisey]

Re the lion head, yes, similarities, and I have seen these kastane hilts.

I don't have time at the moment, but I'll see if I can find some Siamese pics that influenced my feelings.

Re the variation of the motifs in execution, what I think I can see is perhaps a photo problem. This thing might look a bit different in the hand.

[Gustav]

The best picture technically is the first one. The difference in carving quality between the parts to me seems noticeable.

Of course, the lions head isn't exact copy of a Kastane, that surely wasn't attempted, and isn't possible (see Malayan and Indonesian Tajong hilts). Yet the model for it with some certainty was a Kastane handle. If the model was a picture of a Kastane (most likely), the similarity, of course, will be the greatest in profile.

[Battara]

I was thinking the same thing about the mix and Sinhalese lion attribution.

[alexish]

Dear forum members,

Thank you so much for all your insightful comments. Now I understand where the design of my barong handle came form.

I also enclose pictures of another handle that I had earlier bought from the same dealer in Bali at a slightly cheaper price.

Not sure whether it resembles a lion or dragon? Perhaps it is also inspired by the Sinhala kastane sword?

[A. G. Maisey]

Yes, there is a noticeable difference in sharpness of detail between the head and the body of the hilt, but before I put it down to execution I would need to have it in my hand.

Balinese carving is rarely the work of a single person, it is usually a group effort, with people of varying degrees of skill being assigned different asks in completion of a whole, so what we are seeing here could well be because of that group involvement. Something to be expected, that does not speak against Balinese origin, but rather gives weight to that opinion.

Still, for me I still have a question in my mind about the lion head. Yes, there is similarity with that well known kastane for. No argument. But browsing pics of other SE Asian art works does not yet convince me that the model for that hilt was of Ceylonese origin.

[Gustav]

Alan, I am not sure if we could find an SEA art work with greater likeness to it then the lions head on a Kastane handle.

[A. G. Maisey]

Sure, maybe not.

[A. G. Maisey]

I do not want to spend unavailable time on something that is of no value to my objectives, however, in all fairness I probably should add a quick further note on this matter.

The kastane is a Sinhalese (Ceylonese) weapon.
In old Sri Lanka it seems to have been primarily from the Kingdom of Kandi.
Kandi was Buddhist.
The Sinhalese people have a long association with lion symbolism, I believe a lexicographer would find that the very name of the people themselves comes from the word "sinha" or "simha" which comes from "singha" = lion.

In Sri Langka the name used for the Chinthe is "Simha", just as in Thailand the name used for the Chinthe is "singha", and this is where the confusion in calling the kastane pommel a "lion" originates. It is called a lion because the name of a Chinthe in Sri Langka is the same word as is used for a lion, but the artistic representation of the pommel is only the head of a lion.

The body of a lion and the body of a Chinthe are really very different:- one is an animal, one is human with a lion head.

If we consider the lion head on the kastane pommel in the context of weaponry from the region there are at least two possible interpretations. If interpreted as lion it becomes linked to the Sinhalese people as a whole, and perhaps to the warrior caste in particular. If interpreted as a Chinthe it becomes protective.

Possibly, as with much of symbolism from South and South East Asia, we have multi symbolism in play in this matter. That is to say that the symbol of the lion's head can be read in different ways dependent upon context. Even a weapon itself is not always just a weapon.

Where the kastane is concerned it seems to me that there has been very extended debate going on between various groups with various political or personal barrows to push that want to make this lion's head into a makara or a serapendiya. I don't want to go there, all I will say is that prior to Gustav's introduction of the idea that the possible inspiration for the lion head on the Bali hilt was a kastane hilt, I knew nothing of, and did not want to know anything of, kastanes & etc.

Anything I have written after that time has come from the net, yes, admitted, I do have access to a number of academic sources that require registration, or some other association, to get into, but I would much have preferred to use my own hardcopy references.

I presently have not the slightest doubt that the kastane pommel is intended to represent the head of a lion, not some other fabulous beast.

I suspect that the symbolic intent of this head can be interpreted in different ways dependent upon context.

To return to my original question to Gustav:-

"--- You're pretty good in identifying cultural origin of motifs, and you give the lion as Sinhalese. I am not disputing this, but my own feeling was more towards Siamese. Can you give a reference that ties this lion form to Ceylon? ---"

I think Gustav has adequately demonstrated that the form inspiration can be attributed to the Chinthe, perhaps even a Sinhalese interpretation of the Chinthe, and there is an admitted similarity between the Bali hilt lion's head and the kastane lion's heads that Gustav has shown.

My failure to be completely convinced that our Balinese carver used one of Gustav's kastane hilts, or any other kastane head is probably due to both my original placement of that Bali head into a context other than the kastane, and to the fact that since I started to look at this question I've looked at a very vast number of Chinthe images, and I can see sufficient similarity to the Bali head in any number of Chinthe heads from any number of sources, that would permit a Balinese carver to produce the hilt that started this thread.

Actually, the singha that Balinese people place into the rafters of their houses often has a head that is very similar to a Chinthe head. Maybe our carver was giving a new interpretation to a very, very old Balinese form.