What is the meaning behind this gandik type?

[Bjorn]

I have come across this gandik type twice now and am curious as to what exactly is depicted here. The lower figure reminds me of a rhinoceros while the upper figure may represent a predator of some sort, a tiger perhaps?

Does anyone know what is depicted on this gandik? Does it represent a scene from a story, epic, myth or legend? What are the meanings associated with this depiction? What is this gandik meant to tell the person viewing it?

PS: Both keris I have seen it on are from Bali.

[A. G. Maisey]

Yuuzan, if we look at older keris we find a very limited number of figures incorporated into their design. The figures that are most frequently met with in older, traditional keris are the naga in various forms, the singo barong, the Bhoma, and I guess we need to include the deer as well, even though that did seem to come a little later.

As we move through time various other figural motifs appear, sometimes we can attribute a meaning to them, sometimes possibly only the maker or the original owner can attribute a meaning. Then there are motifs that have different meanings for different people and places, for example, a flying elephant when associated with a Surakarta keris is supposedly in recognition, or memory, of the move of the karaton from Kartosuro to Surokarto. But for other people in other places it may have a different meaning. Of course, an elephant cannot be read in the same way as a flying elephant, and that elephant motif can be read in several different ways.

As keris become more recent we find meditating figures(puthut), buffalo, tigers, lions, manglar monggo, garudas, in fact a whole menagerie of motifs. A nice foundation for a collection could perhaps be to collect only keris with figural motifs --- what we call "picture keris".

However, once we move away from tradition and from motifs that have a known religious connection, we move into no-man's-land. In most cases the only person who could really say with certainty what a particular figure represents in more recent keris is the maker.

To clarify what I think of as "tradition", I need to explain that within this context of keris development I think in terms the last 1000 years. The foundation tradition lays within the Hindu-Buda period, I regard more recent keris as those which developed under the Islamic domination.

[Bjorn]

Many thanks, Alan.

I was hoping this representation also came from the Hindu-Buddhist era but it seems it's more likely a depiction of a very local story or simply of the maker's own design.

It has always surprised me that garuda hasn't figured more prominently on keris. To me, the wing motif seems to fit so excellently on the bottom part of the blade and Garuda must certainly have been a well respected figure back then.

Regarding the deer, in the Hindu-Buddhist period, did the depiction of a deer refer to the golden deer of the Ramayana? Or did it have an autochthonous meaning to the Javanese?

[A. G. Maisey]

At the present time I think most keris orientated people tend to identify the deer with Majapahit, but it seems more probable to me that the deer in Hindu-Javanese iconography was associated with minor nobles. In Bali, which is the cultural descendant of Majapahit, the sarcophagus of minor nobles is a deer.

[simatua]

Here another figural bali keris, which was recently on sale at an Dutch auction site. I had never seen a figural gandik seen with a hanuman. Although i only see this pictures, and not the keris in life. looking at the pictures this is 19 th century keris

[Bjorn]

Alan, very interesting to hear about the deer-shaped sarcophogi. I especially love to learn details like this since it all adds to understanding the local cosmology and symbolism.


Simatua, I have recently also come across a gandik with Hanuman. Since, I have actually seen it on several keris on a collector's site. All of them depicted Hanuman in battle with a sea dragon, which refers to events in the Ramayana. The overall design was consistent on all keris: the sea dragon coiled around Hanuman's legs. The design you show above - depicting only Hanuman - is completely new for me. I love how the curve of the tail is seamlessly integrated into the design of the blade.

In my opinion, the Hanuman-dragon design is a very nice one, especially if you like Hanuman. I hope to own a good quality keris with a Hanuman like that one day.

[A. G. Maisey]

The combination of a Naga and monkey in Balinese symbolism is a confusing one. If we assume the monkey to be Hanuman, and the serpent to be the Naga Basuki (Vasuki) , both of which assumptions are probably more likely than any assignment of different characters to these figures, then it becomes a matter of searching for some connection between the two in Hindu-Balinese stories. Personally, I do not know of any such connection, so it possibly gets back to a matter of some personal or local iconography.

I have heard, or read, one story where Hanuman and Basuki appear together, but in my memory I do not associate this story with Bali, I've forgotten what the association is. Briefly it goes something like this:- when Basuki was being used as the churning rope Hanuman was involved in pulling on Basuki's tail --- along with Rawana and a cast of other characters. This in itself is a peculiar combination of characters, because in the original Bhagavatapurana, Hanuman and Rawana do not get a run in the story. But as I said, I do not associate this story with Bali; possibly it belongs in one of the other Hindu influenced cultures of SE Asia. Pretty sure its not mainstream Hindu.

However, the one thing that this combination of characters does demonstrate is that the keris upon which they appear is without doubt a very young one, as this iconography has moved away from traditional socio-religious application.

[Bjorn]

Alan, do you have any idea of when the Hanuman-naga combination became known/popular in Bali? I have seen it on only 3 keris so far but have noticed that it is rather more prevalent in woodcrafts that show Hanuman fighting with a naga.

On the net I have come across several mentions of encounters between Hanuman and naga, but as you pointed out there are many local variations of the Indian epics so I have no idea what the Balinese connection is or how young/old it would be. Might it be possible that it was already known on Bali before it became depicted on keris?

[A. G. Maisey]

Yuuzan, I've just done a few google searches using different combinations of naga:hanuman:vasuki:fight:connection:association --- &etc&etc&etc and in all results down to page 5 I can only find advertisements for oil, accountants, wood carvings and so on; I cannot find a single entry for any of these search term combinations from a legitimate Hindu site.

As to when the motif became popular, I have not the slightest idea. I think I've probably been seeing it since the 1970's. It is a very popular motif, but that does not mean that it has a legitimate religious or mythological foundation, it simply means that it is a motif that translates well into art work, and pleasing art work translates well into $$$$.

I'm not saying here that it does not have a religious or mythological foundation, I'm saying I do not know of one, and in spite of looking for such a relationship in my own resources, plus about 30 minutes with Dr. Google, I cannot find one.

When we try to interpret these things its a very good idea to start from a point that may give us some indication of whether or not we are looking at a continuation of tradition, or a creation influenced by non-traditional motives (that is motive with a 'v', not motif with an 'f'). Once we move into the era of Balinese tourism, probably roughly the mid-1930's we must be very careful with our interpretations.

[Amuk Murugul]

Originally Posted by yuuzan

I have come across this gandik type twice now and am curious as to what exactly is depicted here. The lower figure reminds me of a rhinoceros while the upper figure may represent a predator of some sort, a tiger perhaps?

Does anyone know what is depicted on this gandik? Does it represent a scene from a story, epic, myth or legend? What are the meanings associated with this depiction? What is this gandik meant to tell the person viewing it?

PS: Both keris I have seen it on are from Bali.

Hullo everybody!

yuuzan,
To me, it looks like a poor representation of a lion standing on a rhino. If so, it symbolises Hanyokrokusumo's conquest of the island of Java; the lion represents Hanyokrokusumo while the rhino ( Sunda rhinoceros; more often called Javan rhino by the mainstream ) represents Java.
Sometimes, instead of the rhino, it has an elephant ( Elephas maximus sondaicus ). It essentially symbolises the same thing.

BTW .....
- Naga may not necessarily mean serpent/dragon
- During Hanyokrokusumo's time, he introduced a plethora of new keris types to be awarded like medals to victorious troops. (On the other hand, he was so merciless that a lot of his troops who were unsuccessful preferred to desert rather than to return and face certain death.)

..... just my view.

mvg,

[A. G. Maisey]

That's a very interesting interpretation Amuk Murugul!

You have noted that "it is just my view".

Does that mean that you have provided us with your opinion, or can you quote a source for this interpretation?

I do have a couple of very minor problems with this interpretation, but I am hopeful that you may be able explain these minor discrepancies .

Hanyokrokusumo, or as he was more commonly known, Sultan Agung (Sultan Agung Adi Prabu Hanyokrokusumo) was the ruler of the Central Javanese kingdom of Mataram from 1613 to 1645 ( not everybody agrees on these dates, and some authorities have them varying by a year at either extreme of the period of reign).

Sultan Agung did extend the influence of Mataram into East Jawa and Madura, but he failed to subdue Blambangan, and he never really had much success at all in dominating either Batavia or Banten. He tried a couple of times to drive the Dutch from Batavia, but he failed both times. So, although he did come to influence a large part of the Island of Jawa, at no time did he ever achieve the conquest of Jawa.

I am unaware of the rhinoceros having any place in Javanese iconography. It may have a place in Sundanese iconography, I do not know about this, but in Javanese iconography I cannot find a place for it. Nor can I find a place for the rhinoceros in mainstream Hindu iconography. It is not possible for the rhinoceros to be understood as the elephant. The elephant has the same value as the naga, and in some interpretations one may be understood as the other, but the poor old rhino just doesn't get a look in anywhere.

It is true that the word naga can have a couple of different meanings, but in the context of Jawa, Bali, the keris and the associated belief systems the word Naga refers to one of the three major Nagas, Anantaboga, Basuki, and Taksaka. These three Nagas are incarnations of Brahma, Wisnu and Siwa, and if the three Nagas are merged into only one Naga, that Naga is known as Basuki. Thus, when we consider the relationship of the keris to the Naga, there is a very solid and demonstrable association between the Naga Basuki and the keris, most particularly so when we are thinking in terms of the keris pusaka, the function of which is to bind, as the character of Sri Naga Basuki is as a binding agent.

However, putting all that stuff to one side, there is one little problem that I have with the interpretation that you have given us Amuk, and that is this:- Sultan Agung was a a 17th century Javanese ruler; the keris under discussion is a fairly recent Balinese keris. I just cannot understand why any comparatively modern Balinese would want to incorporate symbolism relevant to a Javanese ruler of several hundred years ago into his keris.

Your interpretation is, as I have said, interesting, but I do feel it needs a little bit of close examination and clarification if we are to accept it as plausible.

EDIT:- There was one other thing I wanted to mention, but I'd forgotten the details, so I let it go until I could find a reference. I've had a look and I still cannot find what is in my mind, so I'll give you what I can remember and somebody might be able to fill in the gaps.
The Dutch wanted to set up a trading station in Bali, and during the negotiations with the Raja of Klungkung, who is the senior Balinese ruler, a request was made for the gift of a live rhinoceros. They were using the harbour at Kuta in those days as the point of entry to South Bali, and the rhino was brought to Kuta and then gifted to the Raja in 1839. This was not an early effort to save the rhino, because a few years later in 1841 or 1842 the rhino was sacrificed as a part of a cremation ceremony.That's as much as I can remember, but somebody may be able to find more on this, and there might be some connection with the use of a rhino as keris motif.

[Bjorn]

Aland and Amuk,

This is turning into quite an interesting discussion and I'd like to thank you both for your views. It's certainly quite educational for me and I wish that my own knowledge was greater so that I could make a more substantial contribution to this discussion.

[David]

The owner of the image that Bjorn started this thread with asked that it be removed and Bjorn was in agreement, so i deleted it. If anyone has access to a similar one for a reference point it might be helpful to the discussion.

[Jussi M.]

Originally Posted by A. G. Maisey

As keris become more recent we find meditating figures(puthut), buffalo, tigers, lions, manglar monggo, garudas, in fact a whole menagerie of motifs. A nice foundation for a collection could perhaps be to collect only keris with figural motifs --- what we call "picture keris".

- emphasis added -

Greetings,

this idea of concentrating ones collection focus onto "picture keris´s" only sounds good in that it would make easier to stay the course: "no picture, on the keris, I´ll pass". Thus temptations would be easier to evade as the mass to choose from would be considerably lower?

However would this be a riskier approach for the novice keris student in that there would be a higher risk of landing with a fraud than if one were to focus on the "less pictoral", more "regular", keris, pun intended? I´m talking about post original manufacture alterations provided for making the market value higher. Hallucination?

Thanks,

J.

[A. G. Maisey]

Yes Jussi, what you’ve said is certainly true:- if one were to focus only on picture keris, it is possible that one could buy some comparatively expensive keris that were not what they pretended to be. However, unfortunately this is true of virtually all attractive older keris.

The talented craftsmen of jawa have been busy for over 100 years in altering unattractive older blades and turning them into much more attractive blades. One of the most popular alterations is to make a hujan mas pamor out of a wos wutah pamor; same for bendo sagodo; in fact same for any surface manipulated pamor, but hujan mas is probably the most popular because it is a very popular pamor.

Tuban blades were often very big, heavy blades, but these days it is extremely rare to find come across one of these old “super size” Tuban blades, and they have become extremely valuable because of their rareity.

What happened to all the others? Used up over the last 100-150 years by turning them into picture keris, waved keris, keris with fancy surface manipulated pamor.

So the fact of the matter is that anybody who has a focus on old keris, simply because they are old, has an extremely high possibility of buying something that has been fiddled with --- and it is not at all easy to always pick these changelings, even with much experience. I’ve been tricked more than a few times, as have some very highly respected keris experts whom I know and have known.

Actually some of the picture keris alterations are worth keeping as masterpieces. I doubt that there has been anybody during the last 40 years or so who has been able to do this sort of alteration convincingly.

So its not just novice collectors who are at risk Jussi, its all of us are. I guess that is one of the major reasons for the high popularity of kemardikan keris, and sky high prices of non-noman keris. At least with these types of keris you can be pretty certain of exactly what you are getting, and quality is normally high.

Focus on older keris and it is absolutely certain that no matter how experienced one is, a percentage of one’s acquisitions will be changelings, no matter if one focuses on older keris in general, or only older picture keris. But my suggestion was for picture keris, and probably the biggest percentage of picture keris in the market place are kemardikan.

[drdavid]

They were using the harbour at Kuta in those days as the point of entry to South Bali, and the rhino was brought to Kuta and then gifted to the Raja in 1839. This was not an early effort to save the rhino, because a few years later in 1841 or 1842 the rhino was sacrificed as a part of a cremation ceremony.That's as much as I can remember, but somebody may be able to find more on this, and there might be some connection with the use of a rhino as keris motif.

In 'Visible and Invisible Realms' by Wiener the rhinocerous makes a few appearances but all are related to the gifting of a rhinocerous for the reasons Alan mentions. According to Wiener the dutchman involved was Schuurman and the rhino was given to the ruler/s of Klungkung (at that stage Dewa Agung Putra II and his sister Dewa Agung Isteri Kania were joint rulers). The rhino was sacrificed at a great maligia (purification) ceremony for the establishment of the temple complex at Sengguan.
drd

[Bjorn]

I went through some Dutch sources on Schuurman and the gifting of the rhinoceros to Dewa Agung, at the dewa's request.

But why did Dewa Agung want a rhinoceros? Why not some other animal? None of the sources mentioned anything about what a rhino might have meant to the Balinese of that era. Some did suggest that Dewa Agung specifically requested the rhino for the purpose of it being used in an important religious ceremony - but again, why did he want a rhino specifically?

The only link I've been able to find between Hinduism and a rhinoceros is that it is one of the mounts of Agni (God of fire). There is a relief in Angkor Wat showing Agni in a chariot that is pulled by a rhinoceros (http://www.art-and-archaeology.com/s...iefs/br20.html). Of course, Bali has its own flavour of Hinduism and the above may thus be completely irrelevant; and the use of a rhino as a god's mount may be unique to Cambodia. But perhaps it is possible - that as the rhinoceros was used in a cremation ceremony - that there is a link between fire (cremation), Agni and the rhinoceros?

And even if this is the case, I still don't see how the symbolism behind the rhino and lion on the gandik of a keris.

[A. G. Maisey]

Yuuzan, I'm a bit handicapped with net access at the moment because I've exceeded my monthly allowance, so I don't want to use this link you've provided, however, Agni + rhino is from memory a Khymer association that does not occur in Bali-Hindu, nor in mainline Hindu belief. Again from memory, I think Agni normally uses a ram as a mount. My apologies if I'm wrong.

[Bjorn]

Alan, you're correct that Agni's regular mount is a ram. It could very well be that the Agni + Rhino combo is unique to the Khmer only - which would completely negate my theory of why Dewa Agung asked for a rhinoceros.

Are there any Balinese forum members who might have a better insight into the symbolism of Bali?

[Bjorn]

Regarding Hanuman and nagas, I came across information in two sources that may shed some more light on the relationship between the two.


Aziatische Kunst, Jaargang 34, Nr. 2, juni 2004. (Asian Art, volume 34, no.2, June 2004)
From the article: De Kris van Knaud (author: David van Duuren)
Note that the primary source that David van Duuren cites for this information is: P.J. Zoetmulder, Kalangwan; A Survey of Old Javanese Literature (Koninklijk Instituut voor Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde, Translation Series 16), Den Haag.

Original text (Dutch)
"Hanuman wordt uiteindelijk gevangen genomen en voor Rahwana geleid. De afgebeelde slang is hoogstwaarschijnlijk de magische pijl van Rahwana's zoon Meghanada (Indrajit) die op Hanuman wordt afgeschoten . Op het moment dat de pijl doel treft, verandert hij in een slang die de apengeneraal in zijn kronkelingen vastklemt."

Translation
"Eventually, Hanuman is captured and led to Ravana. It is highly probable that the pictured snake, which is being shot at Hanuman, is the magical arrow of Ravana's son, Meghanada (Indrajit). Upon contact, the arrow transforms into a snake that traps the monkey general in its coils."


De Gouden Kiem: Inleiding in de Indische Symboliek (author: F.D.K. Bosch / Publisher: Elsevier / Year: 1948)
Below is translated and paraphrased from the original Dutch.

One of the things the author talks about is the symbolism of substitutions: A=C, B=C, ergo A=B.

As an example, it is mentioned that the snake can symbolize the stem of the lotus as both are long and thin. For the same reasons, arrows can also symbolize lotus stems. From A=B, it follows that arrow=snake.

The author further posits that this explains why the snake and arrow are so frequently compared and equated in mythology, and why they so often transform from one into the other.

Examples that are mentioned are the snake-arrows found in wayang, Indrajit's snake-arrow that entwines Hanuman, the Naga-king Acvavena who - in the guise of an arrow - enters Karna's quiver, and both great naga - inhabitants of a mountain lake - who suddenly transform into Civa's [Siva's?] bow and arrow so as to provide Arjuna with the Pacupata weapons that were promised by [the/a?] god.