Balinese Keris Holders

[asomotif]

Nice thread.
Interesting info about the panakawan brothers.
This one is green, but no facial hair.

[ivoke]

i had my son ask I Agung Pandi (the local dalang) about the differences and this was his view:

* tualen = black, body fat, bald head, sarong black or white. a little nose, big mouth, good heart, fierce look, magic.

* merdah = black, body fat, bald head, sarong black or white. a big nose, big mouth, good heart, no fierce look, magic.


* delem = red skin color, upright hair (bun), sarong black and white , body fat, big nose, big mouth

* Petruk / sangut = green skin, lean body, sharp nose,sharp facial features, big mouth.


(singaraja region)

[A. G. Maisey]

This post is not intended to contradict ivoke, it is intended to offer an alternate point of view by somebody who is perhaps as qualified to hold a legitimate opinion as ivoke's informant.

My informant is not a dalang, but an artist, and a senior member of a banjar in the Ubud area.


Twalen is usually coloured black, his expression can change according to the situation, it is not necessarily fierce, but can be so.

Mwerdah is young, and is usually coloured red --- black is not fitting for a young character who is often unsure of himself --- the expression is most usually one of enquiry.


Here are some images of Twalen and Mwerdah keris holders that I have, they are old ones.

There are also some images of blawongs with wayang characters shown.

I seem to recall that Twalen is the Balinese equivalent of Semar, I don't know who Mwerdah is in Javanese wayang. Does anybody know for sure the Javanese equivalents of these characters?

[ivoke]

In Javanese wayang, the punakawan characters consist of Semar, Gareng, Bagong, and Petruk. In Balinese wayang in the other hand, the character consist of Twalen and Merdah (the maids of Pandawa) and Delem and Sangut (the maids of Kurawa).

-Semar is the care-giver of Pandawa. His name is also Hyang Ismaya. Even though his appearance is so ugly, he has a supernatural ability that is greater than the gods'.

-Gareng is one of Semar's sons which means he is revered. Nalagareng cannot speak well; furthermore, whatever he says can be totally wrong. However, he is a very funny and hilarious man. He has been a king of Paranggumiwang and has a name Pandubergola. He was elected to be a king in the name of Dewi Sumbadra. He is so powerful and can only be defeated by Petruk.

-Bagong means shadow of Semar. When Semar was sent to the earth, the gods stated that his shadow became his friend. Suddenly, his shadow was transformed to be Bagong. Bagong has unique personality: he is assertive and like to pretend to be stupid. He is also so funny.

-Petruk is Semar's son with the sweet face and smile. He is a smart speaker and a funny man. He likes to ridicule atrocity with his comedy. Petruk has been a king at the state of Ngrancang Kencana and is named Helgeduelbek. In one story, he took the Kalimasada amulet. Nobody can defeat him except Gareng.


About the "fierce" look of twalen, in the region of the old capital -Singaraja- Twalen is also used by ceremonies like filing of the teeth, to transfer the offerings to the gods. In Jawa and the ubud-denpasar region this function of messenger between the worlds is maybe less present. Twalen in singaraja is not considered a clown. Delem is red in our neck of the sawa's, since he's Twalens "evil" twin. Merdah is Black/brownish.

About the different styles, Balinese people are considered creative....to use an understatement...rules are there to be bent.
There are regional differences, and commercial differences.
My wife is still amazed they sell all that "old stuff" here.....in Tukad Mungga we just trow it away when its old or broken.

Sorry for my english.

[ivoke]

to show the differences between Semar and twalen (hence Jawa and Bali wayang gulit)

Semar



Twalen....note the movable jaw, this means he can speak for himself.

[A. G. Maisey]

Thanks for that Ivoke.

I'm not strong on Javanese wayang, and I know even less about Balinese wayang.

I don't think that Twalen is considered to be a clown anywhere.

Your remarks on "old stuff" are absolutely spot on. The Balinese attitude is a matter of anthropological record. The Javanese attitude is similar in final result, but is generated by different factors.

This attitude towards material goods which are no longer new, bright, and serve the purpose of enhancement is a great boon for the bulk of collectors of all ethnographica ---including keris --- who live in the western world.

I've noticed a similar attitude towards old Levis and designer jeans:- you can buy a pair of new, straight from the factory, Levis for $XX, but when those Levis move uptown into Le Trendi Boutique, and acquire some artfully placed "distressing" --- read "holes" --- they become infinitely more valuable.

When a worn out entong moves from a Central Javanese rubbish dump to a Paddington gallery, it goes from being rubbish to becoming an important cultural artifact of outstanding significance.

Personally, I cannot understand this mindset, but then I acknowledge that I am often the odd man out.

However, at least in Jawa, it seems that the dealers have at last woken up to the preferences of collectors, and have adjusted the prices of items with some age to them to reflect the collector's idea of value, rather than the local idea of value.

As they say:- beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

[A. G. Maisey]

Here are a couple of blawongs with wayang characters. This type of wall board goes back at least to Majapahit times. At that time they were called "stambha", and mention of them can be found in the Nagara-Kertagama. The word "stambha" is related to the word "stambhana" which in Old Javanese had the sense of a magic defence against disaster.

As the North Coast culture developed, these boards became very popular around Cirebon, and along the north coast.

Pigeaud is of the opinion that in Majapahit it was unlikely that they were used as places to hang a keris, simply because keris during Majapahit were not particularly prevalent, however, they were certainly used for this purpose as the North Coast culture blossomed.