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Old 18th February 2020, 09:16 PM   #13
A. G. Maisey
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Join Date: May 2006
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Thank you very much Jean, you have given me the response that I was seeking:- you have clearly identified the object held by Nawa Sari as a pandanus, or pandan, or pudak flower.

However, I feel I must strenuously disagree with you that there has been sufficient discussion about this hilt. By your mention of the pudak flower you have with this single word turned this discussion in what I personally deem to be a very useful direction. Simply forget the quality or lack thereof of the hilt and focus on the idea:- we have here a representation of Nawa Sari.

Nawa Sari is frequently encountered in Bali, usually at or near the entrance to a pura (shrine, temple), sometimes near the entrance of buildings, often important buildings, sometimes government offices. In Bali Nawa Sari is regarded as one of the most powerful guardian figures, and this is his function when placed at an entrance:- he guards the entrance.

When he is employed as the hilt of a keris, his function is precisely the same as when he is placed at the entrance of a pura, that is, he guards the keris against the possibility of entry by any evil entity. The keris has the same nature as a shrine, and just as a shrine or pura must be guarded against entry by evil, so must the keris.

Now, where does the pandanus flower fit into all of this?

Well, the pandan or pudak flower was the flower used by Siwa when he was practicing his tapasya. The word "tapasya" is from the Sanscrit, and its meaning is "deep meditation". The word has come into Balinese & Javanese & Indonesian as "tapa", and has the meaning of asceticism. Asceticism is tied to the concept of deep meditation because such meditation in these places is practiced in extreme physical discomfort, even pain.

Because the pudak flower is Siwa's flower used in deep meditation, it is taken to represent Siwa himself, thus Nawa Sari is grasping behind his head a representation of Siwa and the inference is that Nawa Sari is ready to bring forth the power of Siwa against any evil entity that attempts to enter the pura, or the keris, that he is guarding.

The name "Nawa Sari" is interesting. In Balinese the word "nawa" means "nine", the word "sari" is situational and has several meanings depending upon the situation, but all these meanings can be understood to have the same essence. The meanings of the word "sari" in Balinese are understood as:- flower, pollen, mother's milk, the best of something, egg yolk, yellow, rice, coins when used in an offering.

Thus, in the context of the name "Nawa Sari", the word "sari" can be understood as "flower", so Nawa Sari : Nine Flowers. Clearly there is a deeper meaning to this name, and I am still working on the "nine", I suspect it is tied to the Balinese Trinity. I've been working on Nawa Sari for around 25 years, but I have not yet been able to get a clear explanation of the "nine" part of his name. This is one of the problems with deities in Bali, they are not regarded in the Mediterranean way, but rather in a distinctly Balinese way --- which we need not go into here.

The two images below show a somewhat sharper image of Elsquibble's Nawa Sari, and an image of Nawa Sari showing very clearly what his pudak flower should look like. This carving of Nawa Sari is situated at the entrance to a pura in Ubud, Bali.

I said I was not going to comment on the quality of the hilt under discussion, but I will say this:- in the hilt under discussion the character of the deity represented is perfectly clear, it is Nawa Sari, and it cannot be understood as anything other than Nawa Sari. If this is clear to people here, would it not also be perfectly clear to any evil entity?

Jean, I probably owe you an apology, I phrased my query on the pudak in a way that I thought would draw you out. I apologise if my wording was unsettling.
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