PAKARANG KASOENDAN (Weapons of the Soenda)

[Amuk Murugul]

Hullo everybody,
FYI.

KOEDJANG:

The Koedjang is a traditional implement which has become synonymous with Oerang Soenda identity.
It started life as a simple farming tool (viz. the arit/sickle) and evolved into what it is today.

As a traditional symbol, its protocol virtually restricted the use of the variety of koedjang to the Pangreh Pradja/Prijaji (‘rulers of the realm’/governing bureaucracy), leaving only the basic farming-tool type for the common people.
Although the clergy were also allocated use of the koedjang, they were primarily as talismanic symbols of the clergy’s function: to nurture and protect the spiritual strength of the realm.


Koedjang Anatomy( ref. illustration 1 )

Waroega ( Body/Blade )
Tjongo/Papatoek ( Tip/Beak ), for gouging
Beuteung ( Stomach/Front Edge ), sharp edge for cutting/slicing
Tonggong ( Back/Back Edge ), sharp edge for cutting/slicing
Eloek ( Arc ), along the tonggong
Siih/Tjoetjoek ( Spur/Thorn ), along the tonggong; for ripping/tearing
Mata ( Eye/Eyelet ), along the tonggong (1-9, odd number); filled with precious metal. (Illustration 1 shows a koedjang-boepati, 5 eyelets)
Tadah ( Collector ), for blocking/disarming
Paksi/Boentoet/Paseuk ( Tang, inside Landean )
Seloet (Metal Spacer/Ring ), for firm handling
Pamor ( Damascene ), for poison retention
Tjombong ( Hole ), tang-hole in handle
Landean/Perah ( Handle )
Kopak/Kowak/Sarangka/Saroeng ( Sheath )


Basic Koedjang classification:

Tjioeng ( Whistling Thrush ): both illustrations are examples of this type
Djago/Hajam ( Rooster )
Koentoel ( Egret )
Bangkong ( Frog )
Naga ( Serpent )
Badak ( Rhinoceros )
Pamangkas ( Cutter/Clipper/Chopper/Slasher, a farming tool ): for common folk, typically a sickle or billhook
Bikang ( Female ): for females of nobility and those with definite functions
- Tjioeng
- Koentoel
Koedi: for females only
Boeta ( Blind ): has no eyelets

Koedjang Length: About two handspans (~ 42cm.), from point of blade to end of handle.
Koedjang Bikang: They were only half the size of the normal Koedjang.
Koedi: It is similar to the Koedjang, but with similar twin edges, serrated, with spurs and no beuteung or tonggong. It is the same size as the Koedjang Bikang. They are made of steel, finer than the Koedjang and like Koedjang Boeta, don’t have eyelets.

An anomaly:
The koedjang emblem for the regency of Bogor has FOUR eyelets.
This is because when the then Dutch governor-general created this regency (1689), (traditionally) it did not have the population to warrant a boepati/regent (5 eyelets). Thus the first ‘boepati’ of Bogor was a wadana (one level lower than boepati; 3 eyelets) but officially treated as a boepati. So actually, he was a kind of 'wadana-boepati', a thus-created new 'rank'. To reflect this, a fourth eyelet was added to the blade of his koedjang, but opposite the normal position ( ref. illustration 2 ). This koedjang indicates a rank higher than a wadana but lower than a boepati.

Best,

[Amuk Murugul]

Hullo everybody!

Just to share:
A 21st century Koedjang Tjioeng Mata5.
It is traditionally folded and finished using modern tools.
The pamor is 'coloured'.

Best,

[Amuk Murugul]

Hullo again everybody!

Just to share:
Left - pedang/side-arm of the original Korps Marechaussee.
Right - golok/side-arm of KNIL.

Best,

[jagabuwana]

Sampurasun!

Are these part of your private collection or can they be viewed publicly?

I'm very intrigued by no. 3 - I've not seen this kind of handle before. Might you have other examples?

Also, why do you opt to spell using Dutch orthography? Is this part of the written form of "basa jero" that you've referenced previously?

[Amuk Murugul]

Originally Posted by jagabuwana

Sampurasun!

Are these part of your private collection or can they be viewed publicly?

I'm very intrigued by no. 3 - I've not seen this kind of handle before. Might you have other examples?

Also, why do you opt to spell using Dutch orthography? Is this part of the written form of "basa jero" that you've referenced previously?

Rampes …..

I always try to post examples from my family collection; thus not for ’public viewing'.

I am not sure what you mean.
The handle on '#1/3.’ is just a bajang handle, of which there are several in the collection(it’s only out-of-focus).
‘#3’ is just a staghorn handle.

I choose the spelling system which best suits my needs. It gives uniformity and allows ‘freedom of access and movement’ within the Malajoe archipelago.

Tjag.

[David]

Originally Posted by Amuk Murugul

I choose the spelling system which best suits my needs. It gives uniformity and allows ‘freedom of access and movement’ within the Malajoe archipelago.

Amuk, i certainly respect your right to use "the spelling system which best suits <your> needs". That said, i really must point out that just about every time you do post with these anachronistic spellings they cause confusion and questions from our members. So it should be obvious to you at this point that what best suits your own needs only confuses a large part of our membership. In the past you have acknowledged this and i even remember you saying at one point that you would post in the more modern and understandable form. I guess you have dismissed that idea at this point. I am not telling you that you cannot continue using these spellings, but i do what you to clearly understand that it is often problematic for others when you do.

[A. G. Maisey]

Actually David, I rather enjoy Amuk's archaic and sometimes puzzling spellings. They refresh my memories and take me back to when I first began to learn Bahasa Indonesia. Yeah, I know, I'm not everybody else, but surely we can tolerate his convoluted spellings for the sake of his interesting photos?

When I began learning Bahasa Indonesia the old Dutch spelling was still being used, and my first dictionaries and text books were all the old spellings --- except for the Dutch "oe" instead of "u", that was changed in , I think, 1947, the other changes did not become official until 1972.

It is interesting to compare Indonesian romanisation and Malaysian romanisation. Sir Richard Winstead was responsible for the romanisation of Malay, and this first appeared in his Malay - English dictionary in 1908.

The old Dutch spelling system was in place from early in the 20th century, pre-1910, through to 1947, when it was replaced by the new National spelling system, I'm not sure, but I think this new system was called the "Republik" system. The old Dutch system had been invented by a gentleman with a name I cannot spell, it was something like van Ophuisen. Then in 1972 the present system that we use was introduced.

Interestingly, Malaysia did not exist until late in 1963, prior to that it had been Malaya, which of course was Melayu, because the Winstead spelling system was well and truly in place.

Actually, the term "Malay Archipelago" was an invention of Lord Alfred Wallace, he also called the same islands the "Indian Archipelago". Its a bit difficult to understand how the term "Malajoe archipelago" could ever have existed. Maybe "Kepuluan Malayoe" or "Kepuluan Malaju" or even "Kepuluan Melajoe", but then we have the problem of either Dutch or Indonesian nationalists ceding naming rights of Dutch or Indonesian territory to those difficult Malays, then using an English language term, expressed with Dutch spelling. It never happened.

For the Dutch, the islands that we now think of as "Indonesia" were known as "Nederland Indie", for indigenous people under Dutch overlordship these islands were "Hindia Belanda" or "Hindi Londo", after Merdeka, the generally used term in the new nation of Indonesia was "Nusantara" a term that was in use in Old Javanese.

That's what I mean about Amuk's sometimes puzzling spellings, they get confused and mixed, but truly I do enjoy the exercise of working out what he means, I think we should be tolerant and accept what he is prepared to give.

His pictures are great.