Blades from Sarawak, Malaysia

[Amuk Murugul]

Originally Posted by Dinggat

I can at least confirm that the Iban sometimes prefer to use a Piso Podang (PP) for their traditional dances and performances instead of a real Iban weapon. Possibly an antique PP is a more prestigious thing to own for the individual Iban than a mere "normal" parang that everyone has.

But one more thing I'm curious about: Unfortunately the blade of my PP is pretty rusted, but still I seem to remember that a smith's signature on the blade was visible. The funny thing is: The signature was made from European/Latin letters. What meaning could this have in regards to the "realness" of the weapon?

Hullo Dingdat,

I wouldn't worry about the 'realness' of the implement (of course this depends on how strict/purist you are). It's quite common to use non-local blades (be it from other regions or other countries) with local hilts/dress . As a matter of fact, in the 17th-18th centuries, VOC trade blades (manufactured by its foundaries in India and elsewhere in the East Indies) were commonly used throughout the Archipelago.

As for whether it's a 'pedang' or 'podang' (or even 'peudeueng'). I wouldn't worry about it too much. This is just a variation in the local language, similar to 'sword', 'zwaard' and 'schwert'. Basically the same.
In Brunei, the Malay spoken has always been the closest to Bahasa Indonesia, in essence, the Archipelago trade lingua franca. In Sabah, there is a strong Batak influence, particularly among some tribes, such as the Tawau (where they speak Malay with a Batak flavour).

Hope this helps.

Best,

[Dinggat]

Oh, I'm not purist in any kind of way. I just want to find out as much as possible about this particular weapon. It's not like I would throw it away if I found out it was not "the real thing".

As an amatuer linguist who learns a few Austronesian languages I'm very aware of the local differences (Podang, Pedang etc.). Apart from actual dialectic differences such different spellings can often be traced back to the Europeans who where the first one's to put a native language to paper. What sounded like "Pedang" to a British colonialist might have sounded like a "Podang" to his Dutch colleague, even though they basically heard the same word.

[Amuk Murugul]

Hullo Dinggat,

I just found some old notes on Kalimantan. Apparently, at some stage, I found that the Batak type sword was common in northern and western Kalimantan. I'll get back to you when I find some more info (or perhaps you'll already have it before then).

Best,

[Maurice]

http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...ighlight=batak

[Amuk Murugul]

Hullo everybody,

Originally Posted by Maurice

http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...ighlight=batak

Thanks for the link Maurice mvg

Dinggat,

To iterate, the Indian/Batak style sword was quite common among the native population of the northern and western parts of the island.
This was the area where the Iban were the predominant people, having expanded to West Kalimantan and Sabah from their ancestral homeland in the Batang Lupar River area (particularly in the last half of the 19th century). So it comes as no surprise that your family owns one.

Best,

[Dinggat]

Thank you all very much. So trade distributed the Piso Podangs to Borneo into the hands of the Iban (and I suppose other ethnic groups as well). I hope I wont forget to take the photos next time I'm home.

[asomotif]

you should buy yourself the book "iban art" from Heppell

Here is the front cover of this book with a nice podang in a faily recent picture.