Blatek from Bali or Lombok (Sasak)

[Patrick]

Arug (bhs Bali) or Blatek (Bhs Sasak)

Long time ago I found a kind of ceremonial axe in Lombok. According to me it is called Arug in Bali or Blatek in Lombok.
I heard different stories what they were used for, but it seems they are used in ceremonies in both Bali as in Lombok.

Does anybody knows more about this kind of axes?

[A. G. Maisey]

Patrick, in today's Bali this knife is known as a "blakas pengentas".

A blakas is any big knife, sort of equivalent to "machete" for us; "pengentas" I do not know precisely, but the blakas pengentas is associated with funeral ceremonies, the root is probably "genta" which is the bell that a priest uses.

I do not know the word "arug" as Balinese, and I cannot find it in a Balinese dictionary, but I do know it as Old Javanese, in this language "arug" is a weapon used for stabbing.

"Arug" also occurs in Modern Javanese, where its meaning is "soft & crumbly".

I have not even the smallest knowledge of Bahasa Sasak, but that is irrelevant in this case, because this knife is Balinese, the Balinese colonised and held part of Lombok for a time, and Bahasa Bali was used on Lombok by Balinese colonists, thus the name for the knife is the same on Lombok as on Bali.

The word "blathi" is actually a Modern Javanese word for a knife or dagger, "blathi" does not occur in Old Javanese, nor in Balinese.

An Afterthought

It has occurred to me that "blathi" is very probably a corruption of the Malay word "belati", which is a sort of knife with a wide blade, this word also occurs in Bahasa Indonesia, which is actually based on Malay as spoken in South Sumatera.

In Classical Malay the word "belati" means "European" or goods that have come from far away, so originally the word belati in Malay would have been applied to a foriegn knife.

The pronunciation of "blathi" and "belati" would be indistinguishable to a non-native speaker.

The Malay "belathi" comes from Sanscrit "vilayati", by way of Hindi.

[naturalist]

Originally Posted by A. G. Maisey

Patrick, in today's Bali this knife is known as a "blakas pengentas".

A blakas is any big knife, sort of equivalent to "machete" for us; "pengentas" I do not know precisely, but the blakas pengentas is associated with funeral ceremonies, the root is probably "genta" which is the bell that a priest uses.
.

Pangentas has root from "tas", meaning broken off.
There is Tiuk (tiyuk) Pangentas => knife for cutting the rope that tied the corpse in the Ngaben ritual.
Blakas falls in to tiyuk/tiuk category.

[A. G. Maisey]

You might be right Naturalist, but both Shadeg & Barber give "pangentas" as :-

"holy water that frees from sin"

The meaning of "tas" is actually "to cut off", not "broken off", and in fact as "to cut off" "tas" as the root of "pengentas" makes more sense than "broken off".

I was first given the name "pengentas" by a Brahmin around forty years ago, and I've used it in conversation with other Balinese people since. Nobody has ever corrected me --- but that doesn't mean much.

A "blakas" is a big knife, any big knife, a "tiuk" --- or "tiyuk" if you prefer --- is a little knife. Not quite the same category. In fact, "tiuk" can be applied with a qualifier to just about any small cutting implement I think. A "tiuk pangundulan" is a razor.

[Sajen]

This discussion we have had some time ago, see here: http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...ight=pengentas
And I've thought that it would be clear what the meaning of the words is. See post #29 and #36.

Regards,
Detlef

[Sajen]

PS: I doubt that such an axe was in use by Sasak poeple, see here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sasak_people
Since it's a ceremonially tool it just don't make any sense by a different religion.

Regards,
Detlef

[naturalist]

So sorry Alan, my bad. English is not my mother tongue. That's what i meant to cut off. The principle on "pangentas" in this context is resurrection ~ lift it up to the next level

Originally Posted by A. G. Maisey

You might be right Naturalist, but both Shadeg & Barber give "pangentas" as :-

"holy water that frees from sin"

The meaning of "tas" is actually "to cut off", not "broken off", and in fact as "to cut off" "tas" as the root of "pengentas" makes more sense than "broken off".

I was first given the name "pengentas" by a Brahmin around forty years ago, and I've used it in conversation with other Balinese people since. Nobody has ever corrected me --- but that doesn't mean much.

A "blakas" is a big knife, any big knife, a "tiuk" --- or "tiyuk" if you prefer --- is a little knife. Not quite the same category. In fact, "tiuk" can be applied with a qualifier to just about any small cutting implement I think. A "tiuk pangundulan" is a razor.