Help with Pedang / Translation

[CourseEight]

Hi there --

I'm a long-time lurker on this forum, and reading it has been a highlight of my day for quite some time now. I was wondering if anyone could help me translate the writing on a pedang I recently purchased, as well as any other observations. The writing is along both sides of the blade. It is not carved into the blade, but rather stands out from the blade, as though the entire blade was etched around it. On each side the writing consists of four sections:

(1) nearest to the handle is a 2x7 (2x8 on the other side) grid with each square having a single character in it. Is this like a buduh? But I've never seen 2x7 or 2x8 before...

(2) next along the blade is a long line of text

(3) Then there is a cartouche with a small amount of writing in it

(4) Finally there is a short amount of text near the tip

I'm fairly certain neither the handle nor the sheath are original to the blade, so I'm not 100% sure the blade is actually that of a pedang. One trait I haven't seen on other pedang on the forum is that the tip curves forward.

I'm attaching four pictures of the sword as a whole, and then five pictures of closups of the writing on one of the sides. I will post the other side's writing as well, in another post. Thanks so much in advance for any help on the translation, and any general thoughts forumites may have!

--Radleigh

[CourseEight]

And the other side:

[CourseEight]

Well, I guess no one has any idea what the writing says. But any thoughts as to its age, region of origin (and what language is on the blade), whether the tip curving forward is normal, publications/links with similarly written on swords, comments on its overall quality as a weapon? I very much would like to learn more about it . . .

--Radleigh

[RhysMichael]

First of all welcome to the forum

I cannot help you with the tranlation but swords with that blade shape and the naga hilt are normally attributed to Sumatra. Though it may be from elsewhere in indonesia. I sometimes see these called parang instead of pedang. The writing could be many things, makers information or date, and azimat to name a couple. There will be someone here who can read it for you, it appears arabic to me but I could be way off. I'll be home tomorrow and look through my references but do a search on here for some of the markings on piso podang and you may find some simlar. I'll add more when I can

[CourseEight]

Thanks so much for your welcome and your input! Upon taking your suggestion I found this interesting thread:

http://www.vikingsword.com/ubb/Forum1/HTML/001774.html

with the pictures of said sword in this thread:

http://www.vikingsword.com/ubb/Forum1/HTML/002598.html

The discussion was especially useful in reference to the writing near the base of the blade. The characters seem to be a mix of hindi and arabic numerals and arabic characters, so it fits with the above discussion. When I have the time I'm going see if there is a similar mathematical pattern.

I agree the writing does look arabic, and I had hoped for a date, but I can't seem to find an appropriate string of numeral characters, except possibly in the cartouche. There might be a 1 1 4 9 written there, which would be 1737. The problem with this is that the 4 is in hindi but the other numerals are in arabic. Is mixing numerals like that common? It did occur on the above mentioned sword (the backwards 'B' character).

Additionally I have not seen writing on a blade done quite in this manner. Normally it is either written on the blade or carved into the blade, but on my sword is stands out from the blade, as though the whole blade were carved or etched around the writing. Are there any other examples of such a technique, from Sumatra or elsewhere?

Thanks again for your input and I look forward to what else you may find!

--Radleigh