A sword design theory (Phil., Indonesia, & Malaysia)

[migueldiaz]

In one of our local museums (Ayala Museum), there is an illustration of a Kalimantan woodcut (pic is below). I've reproduced also below the caption on the same.

Please note that the Austronesian concept of the tripartite cosmos (and their attendant symbols or gods), of course predates the region's contact with Hinduism, Buddhism, etc.

And the establishment of the above via linguistics as noted is very important. Because whereas finding archeological proofs is a hit-or-miss thing sometimes, linguistic evidence tends to be more robust and more traceable over time.

The other thing worth noting is that the Austronesian tripartite view of the cosmos finds itself in the design of many things. In the example below, we can see that our traditional house-on-stilts is actually a mirror of how our forefathers viewed the universe.

For instance, in the traditional Igorot houses the carved wooden deities (bulul) would be found on the attic of the houses, given that the attic represents the Upperworld. I think the exhumed bones of departed ancestors are also kept there.

Finally, I'd just like to point out that the veneration of the serpent, sun, bird, etc. are not exclusive to Austronesians, as we also all know.

Additional illustrations to follow ...

[Spunjer]

So here's the essence of the Austronesian religion (below). It's a belief that the cosmos is tripartite: the Upperworld, the earth, and the Underworld. The Upperworld is often symbolized by the sun or the bird or sometimes by fire.
The bird is an obvious choice for the ancient Austronesians because of all creatures, they are the only ones that can go back and forth between the heavens and the earth. The Underworld's typical icon on the other hand is the snake/serpent/naga. But sometimes, the turtle, croc, fish, etc. are also used.

interesting topic, lorenz!

if you don't mind, here's a little (if not, neat) theory:
let's look at a typical Moro Kris. i rhink my diagram can explain it better:

[migueldiaz]

Originally Posted by Spunjer

interesting topic, lorenz! if you don't mind, here's a little (if not, neat) theory: let's look at a typical Moro Kris. i rhink my diagram can explain it better:

ron, your laser-guided munition surely hit the target right on the money! thanks for that excellent example.

and i do hope that our malaysian and indonesian brethren in this forum will also comment and contribute any info they may want to share. well, anybody and everybody are most welcome to contribute or comment or question anything in this thread for sure!

ok, in the austronesian cosmos, the underworld is also equated with the waters (rivers, lakes, & seas). that's why aside from land snakes -- crocs, fishes, turtles, crabs, & other sea creatures are also regarded as reps of the underworld.

and closer to home, the mythical visayan sea-serpent, the bakunawa was surely an underworld deity as far as our forefathers are concerned.

to recap, it should come as no surprise then that austronesian boats would often have serpents or dragons or reptiles in their design motif:

- for the korakora/karakoa for instance, the carving of a serpent's head would usually be on the boat's prow

- a similar philippine fighting ship of old, the joangan [pronounced who-WAH-ngan], would also use the serpent for bow design, as can be seen in the illustration below from alcina's monumental 1668 treatise on the visayans

- as can be expected, the tagalogs of luzon in northern philippines did the same thing: in the excerpt below from san buenaventura's excellent 1613 spanish-tagalog dictionary, we can see that the typical balangai (a big boat of old used throughout the philippines) also used the naga for the prow's design -- cabeza [spanish for head] is naga in tagalog, and was defined as the serpent in the bow of a ship (spanish: 'de sierpe en la proa del navio'); and the example of usage, 'nagaan mo ang balangay' [tagalog] also below means, 'put the naga [in the bow or prow] of the balangay [boat]'.

long story short: underworld = serpent = naga => boat motif -- perhaps given the belief that the naga would make the perfect patron saint of sorts for seagoing vessels.

finally going back to ron's example above, in a kris (or keris), the thing in the scabbard where the blade (i.e., the naga) enters is sometimes shaped like a boat ... a mere coincidence? i don't think so!

p.s. - here's where linguistics can come to the rescue. i think in indonesian that part of the scabbard i referred to above is called warangka. now in the austronesian world, the other local terms for boat are wangka/ bangka/ wa'a/ va'a. thus perhaps warangka is a cognate of wangka/bangka after all ... hope somebody can check this out.

[A. G. Maisey]

In Modern Javanese "warangka" can be written as "wrangka", rangka" and phonetically by omitting the first "A" and replacing the other two "A" 's with "O" 's .

The word has a sense of protection or containment, one of its derivatives being wrangkaning ratu = patih (probably more realistically the mahapatih) = prime minister or chief adviser. The association is easy to see, the mahapatih protects the king with his advice.

In Old Javanese, which is probably a more relevant source to look at, "warangka" is again a word that has a sense of protection or containment. Zoetmulder lists the root as a keris scabbard and as a stable (stable being able to be understood as an animal stall or an animal pen), and also as a nest.

I cannot comment on the keris form that is found in the Philippines, as I have not involved myself in study of this in even the smallest degree, however I am prepared to comment on the keris in Jawa.

The association of the keris scabbard form, especially the formal scabbard, with the form of some boats has been made many times in the past. Yes, there is a faint resemblance in form, but in respect of the Javanese keris I have been unable to find even the slightest evidence to support this theorised association.

Similarly, a long standing theory in respect of the blade of the keris has been that in the straight form it represents the naga at rest, in the waved form it represents the naga in motion. Interesting.

The other symbolism mentioned as being associated with the Philippine keris form is also interesting, but I would prefer to reserve comment.

[migueldiaz]

Alan, many thanks for the comments! It appears thus that the resemblance I was referring to (warangka vs. a boat) might just be coincidental after all.

Originally Posted by A. G. Maisey

In Old Javanese, which is probably a more relevant source to look at, "warangka" is again a word that has a sense of protection or containment. Zoetmulder lists the root as a keris scabbard and as a stable (stable being able to be understood as an animal stall or an animal pen), and also as a nest.

On the other hand, the concept of protection and containment can also be ascribed to a boat I think (i.e., the boat vs. the vagaries of the high seas it's in). But perhaps I'm stretching things already ...

On a related matter, it's also good to know that in Old Javanese, the scabbard's root word refers to a stable or a nest. Thus perhaps once again, we can see here the allusion to the keris or any other sword being a mythical representation of a beast or a bird that needs a 'pen' or a 'nest' ...

[migueldiaz]

More on the concept of the Austronesian tripartite cosmos as the primary design motif on many things, and for now let's focus on the traditional Austronesian house on stilts ...

As can be seen below, traditional archipelagic Southeast Asian houses would often feature the bird deity on the roofs. Indonesian houses (and even houses of Thailand and neighboring countries) are also found with the same.

In the sarimanok of the Moros (thanks to 'dimasalang' for the pic below), a fish [an Underworld icon] can also be found on the bird's beak and/or claw. This would be reminiscent of the traditional Thai roof design where the a sculpture of the bird is found on the apex, and the serpents' image on each side of the roof eaves are supposed to represent nagas being held by each claw of the said bird ...

In any case, it's still all about the bird-deity and the naga-deity, and the bird would always be above the serpent/s, based on their 'vertical' positioning in the tripartite cosmos ...

[migueldiaz]

here's a quick example of the traditional thai roof -- bird on the apex, and two serpents on each side, which are supposed to be being held by said bird ...