MADURA ornamental hilts

[ganjawulung]

Originally Posted by Alam Shah

The back, maybe represents garuda mungkur in a more realistic rendition..

Yes, thank you Shahrial, for your "sharp eyes" -- your very careful observation -- on such ornamentation. I've checked too in "Wayang Ensiklopedi" by Mr Bambang Harsrinuksmo (Senawangi Jakarta, 1999 -- Volume 2), and I found Shahrial is right...

"Garuda Mungkur" or usually spelled in a speed-javanese as "Gruda Mungkur" is a type of ornamentation in Wayang art (javanese) -- head ornamentation or crown ornamentation behind the head. Most styles in Javanese wayang -- whether it is Surakarta, Yogyakarta, Cirebon, Kedu, Kaligesing, Banyumas, East Java and Bali style -- they use "gruda mungkur" ornamentation in different expressions.

Not only 'raksasa' (demon, giant) wayang figures have 'gruda mungkur' ornamentation, but also some 'ksatria' (knight), 'patih' (prime-minister)and also some female wayang figures...

These pictures below, are some examples on "gruda mungkur" (litterally means 'garuda facing backward') in 'raksasa' figure and Anjani (a goddess in wayang, wife of Batara Guru the highest god)

GANJAWULUNG