BALI KERIS HULU : ANIMAL FORM, what is it ?

[A. G. Maisey]

The dog situation in Bali has several aspects. In the Hindu faith Siwa has a number of manifestations (8?) that are terrible, these manifestations are the Bhairavas, when Siwa is manifested as a Bhairava his vahana (mount) is often a dog.

Other minor deities can also be associated with dogs, and dogs are permitted as pets, or as working dogs, they are sacred in the context that all life is sacred, and some Hindu people believe that looking after dogs can help in achieving moksa. However, dogs are considered unclean and should not be permitted into the house, & most especially not into a temple or other sacred place.

From time to time there have been outbreaks of rabies in Bali, and when this happens any dogs seen on the street are shot. There was a big cleanup of Bali dogs not all that long ago --- maybe ten years ago --- for a long time after that there were not many dogs to be seen on the streets, but in 2018 the numbers seemed to be getting back to something like normal.

There is a black side to the Bali dog matter, and that black side is the dog meat trade.

Do not read this if you are squeamish:-

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-06-...urists/8620128

I have been told by several people that the practice of eating dog meat was brought to Bali in the recent past by Christians from the Philippines who came to Bali to work in the tourist industry. The consumption of dog meat is not indigenous to Bali, it is just another contamination brought into Bali by outsiders.

[Anthony G.]

Originally Posted by A. G. Maisey

The dog situation in Bali has several aspects. In the Hindu faith Siwa has a number of manifestations (8?) that are terrible, these manifestations are the Bhairavas, when Siwa is manifested as a Bhairava his vahana (mount) is often a dog.

Other minor deities can also be associated with dogs, and dogs are permitted as pets, or as working dogs, they are sacred in the context that all life is sacred, and some Hindu people believe that looking after dogs can help in achieving moksa. However, dogs are considered unclean and should not be permitted into the house, & most especially not into a temple or other sacred place.

From time to time there have been outbreaks of rabies in Bali, and when this happens any dogs seen on the street are shot. There was a big cleanup of Bali dogs not all that long ago --- maybe ten years ago --- for a long time after that there were not many dogs to be seen on the streets, but in 2018 the numbers seemed to be getting back to something like normal.

There is a black side to the Bali dog matter, and that black side is the dog meat trade.

Do not read this if you are squeamish:-

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-06-...urists/8620128

I have been told by several people that the practice of eating dog meat was brought to Bali in the recent past by Christians from the Philippines who came to Bali to work in the tourist industry. The consumption of dog meat is not indigenous to Bali, it is just another contamination brought into Bali by outsiders.

Thanks Alan for sharing and it is very disturbing which I must said. I will totally avoid MEAT in Bali when I have the opportunity to travel there in future.

[A. G. Maisey]

I eat very little meat at any time Anthony, I'm not vegan, but 99% of my diet is.

For many, many years I have avoided any sort of food from animals of all kinds whenever I'm in Indonesia.

[asomotif]

I received some information from a fellow collector.

I already noticed the pronounced claws with 3 nails on my hilt, but considering the overal appearance of the carving I thought these were just crudely carved.

Well these nails might be the key to the question.
Maybe these nails are correct and the rest of the carving is freestyling by the carver.

I received pictures of hilts depicting a pangolin.
According to this fellow collector a sasak motif.

Best regards,
Willem

[asomotif]

Ps. before the thread goes culinary again. don't eat pangolins. they are an endagered species.

[Anthony G.]

Originally Posted by asomotif

Ps. before the thread goes culinary again. don't eat pangolins. they are an endagered species.

Is Pangolin part of Balinese culture? And eating wild animals are bad. Covid is result of what happen i think.

[A. G. Maisey]

This is a very interesting post asomotif. I have not seen a pangolin used as a hilt motif, in fact, I cannot remember seeing a pangolin used as a motif at all in Islamic era representations.

In pre-Islamic Jawa the pangolin was a powerful symbol, he was the guard of Rawana's pleasure garden, through the relationship of the pangolin with ants & flying ants in particular the pangolin was used to symbolise destruction of enemies in warfare and destruction of evil forces/demons in particular --- in Old Javanese literature ants can symbolise rakasas, pangolins eat ants. Probably a pangolin was sacrificed in the construction of one of the minor candis in the Joro Jonggrang complex, Candi Nandi (?), and used in esoteric ritual.

There is a basrelief on Candi Siwa at the Loro Jonggrang --- ie, Prambanan --- complex near Ngayogya that shows a pangolin.

In pre-Islamic Jawa the pangolin was a big deal, but maybe not so much in Islamic Jawa. My guess is that the pangolin symbolism arrived on Lombok with the 14th century immigrants from Jawa.

Really good to see survival of this symbolism, I had thought it was all but gone.

EDIT

This edit is the addition of the Candi Siwa pangolin, you can see him curled up at lower right, just near the mushrooms.