information about this prabot, please

A. G. Maisey · 12th July 2008, 11:23 PM

In respect of Javanese keris we normally use the word "prabot" to refer to the things that make a keris complete, such as the warangka, jejeran, mendhak, etc.

Some people do use the word "prabot" to refer to the features of a blade, but I have never met one of these people, and everybody I know uses the word "ricikan" to refer to the features of a keris blade.

The word "prabot" in its everyday sense means "tools, utensils, equipment" etc (it has other meanings as well, but they are not relevant here).

For instance, you can have "prabot pawon":- kitchen utensils.

The word "ricikan" comes from "ricik", to divide up. "Ricikan" means "extra or additional parts" it can also mean "requirements".

It can be easily seen that ricikan is the correct, and more appropriate word to use to refer to the features of a keris blade. These features are not "tools, utensils, equipment", but are "additional parts", or "requirements", in the sense of a specific requirement to satisfy a particular dhapur.

The word "alis" means "eye brow", and "tikel" means "a lot bigger". Some people will call the tikel alis by the name "widheng"; to me, this does not make sense, because a "widheng" is a kind of crab. If they used "lung widheng", the same as the mendhak motif, it would make more sense, but they don't, just widheng:- river crab.("lung" means "tendril").

A tikel alis that continues through to the front of the gandhik is normally taken to be an older style.

Some people will give sub-categories of tikel alis according to form, but there does not seem to be much consistency in these sub-classifications.

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12th July 2008, 11:23 PM	#5
A. G. Maisey Member Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 7,015	In respect of Javanese keris we normally use the word "prabot" to refer to the things that make a keris complete, such as the warangka, jejeran, mendhak, etc. Some people do use the word "prabot" to refer to the features of a blade, but I have never met one of these people, and everybody I know uses the word "ricikan" to refer to the features of a keris blade. The word "prabot" in its everyday sense means "tools, utensils, equipment" etc (it has other meanings as well, but they are not relevant here). For instance, you can have "prabot pawon":- kitchen utensils. The word "ricikan" comes from "ricik", to divide up. "Ricikan" means "extra or additional parts" it can also mean "requirements". It can be easily seen that ricikan is the correct, and more appropriate word to use to refer to the features of a keris blade. These features are not "tools, utensils, equipment", but are "additional parts", or "requirements", in the sense of a specific requirement to satisfy a particular dhapur. The word "alis" means "eye brow", and "tikel" means "a lot bigger". Some people will call the tikel alis by the name "widheng"; to me, this does not make sense, because a "widheng" is a kind of crab. If they used "lung widheng", the same as the mendhak motif, it would make more sense, but they don't, just widheng:- river crab.("lung" means "tendril"). A tikel alis that continues through to the front of the gandhik is normally taken to be an older style. Some people will give sub-categories of tikel alis according to form, but there does not seem to be much consistency in these sub-classifications.