BALI KERIS HULU : ANIMAL FORM, what is it ?

[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.

[JustYS]

Originally Posted by 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.

Thank you for sharing this knowledge Alan.

It made me do some research and found the attached article about pangolin for those who are interested.

In Resume:

"In ancient Java, pangolin was a symbolically loaded animal. Its representations in Old Javanese literature and visual art are, however, rare. The pangolin is mentioned four times in the Kakawin Rāmāyaṇa, composed between the middle of the 9th and the first quarter of the 10th century CE. A pangolin is also represented in a narrative relief of Caṇḍi Śiva, in Prambanan, and a very large skeleton of pangolin was found interred under the Caṇḍi Nandi standing in front of the Śiva temple. This article tries to make sense of this sparse evidence, interpreting the pangolin of the Javanese court imaginaire as a military, apotropaic animal and a demon slayer. The natural characteristics of the pangolin, such as its scaly skin, and especially its diet, based almost exclusively on ants and termites – insects standing for adharma and demonic qualities in pre-Islamic Java – made pangolin a powerful “consumer” of demonic śakti – and hence an apotropaic animal."

[A. G. Maisey]

I think I might have this paper in one of my hard drives, its Jiri Jakl's work and I have a lot of his papers that I've downloaded.

Just did a quick skim of this and it echos what we can find in other places.

He mentions that representations of the pangolin are rare in Old Javanese literature and art, and they may be, but despite rarity of mention the pangolin was still one of the more powerful warrior and protective symbols, warrior because he shows the way in which to fight:- protect yourself when under attack --- he does this by curling into a ball -- and wait until the time is right to launch your own attack.

We've just seen this strategy used in Afghanistan.