Batak sword "Piso ni Datu"

[Bill Marsh]

From Summatra and the Toba Batak culture. "Sword of the Magician." Usually considered so so powerful that it was kept in it's own house away from where the people lived.

 

[MauiRob]

Beautiful!

And your photographs are stunning---great use of soft light to bring out the carvings. Background is perfect too:thumbup:

 

[Abaniko]

Thanks for posting these . Very interesting, very cool.:thumbup:

 

[tsf]

Beautiful Bill. You have an awesome collection. Photography is great too.
Terry

 

[M. Taylor]

That's gorgeous. Where do you find this stuff???

 

[Bill Marsh]

That's gorgeous. Where do you find this stuff???

I buy mostly from known dealers and other collectors. Many, if not most, of the more exotic cultures are riddled with fakes. You can find a few low end legitimate pieces on aBay, and a very few "sleepers" if you know what to look for. There are also a few really good dealers on eBay, but they do not put their good pieces there becasue most people won't pay the price.

I do buy a bit on eBay, but rarely the really good pieces.

The Batak sword came from a dealer in the Netherlands. He is a world class authority on Borneo words and while the Batak (Sumatra) are not his speciality, I trust his judgement. I also always request a three day return policy.

It helps to deal with established dealers who not only know the material, but will take it back, anytime, if there is a legitimate question as to authenticity.

A few years back I bought a Bugis keris from an American eBay seller. A Talis-Talis. If it had been authentic it would have been worth many thousands of dollars. The dealer was not certain what he had. Could it have been a sleeper? Me and another collector thought so. Most of the high end collectors bid with a sniper in the last few seconds of an acution. This prevents people from "shadowing" us and bidding oin everything we bid on.

The highest bid was $150 except for me and the other guy. HIs bid was $1,000USD. Mine was more so I won it for $1025. Cheap if real. When I got it I instantly knew it was only a good fake. I emailed the seller (a good dealer and honest man, this was just not in his specialty), I asked to return it telling him it was a good fake, but was not authentic. He emailed ne backa nd said that if I wanted to keep it, he would refund $900 of my money. For $125, it is worth having.

This is a dealer worth dealing with!

Anyone want to see a picture of a nice fake Bugis Tali-Tali Keris?

As you might imagine wood, leather and even metal has short life in tropical wet countries. Most of the really good Indonesian, African, Philippine pieces are no longer in those countries unless in museums where you are unlikley to be able to buy.

So I network with other collectors and dealers.

Thanks for the compliments! A great deal of the joy in collecting is to be able to share with others who also find beauty in them.

 

[tedwca]

Yep, great stuff. I always look forward to your posts.

Thanks for sharing.

 

[408serrada]

Bill,

I admire a man of great taste. This piece is priceless, guard it and keep it safe.

Thanks for sharing this with us, it is a magical blade indeed.

~J.

 

[Bill Marsh]

Bill,

I admire a man of great taste. This piece is priceless, guard it and keep it safe.

Thanks for sharing this with us, it is a magical blade indeed.

~J.

Thank you.

 

[Return of the J.D.]

Just for our education: what is it about this that makes it a "piso ni datu," as opposed to some other kind of Batak sword? (I'm always curious to learn such things.)

As to its being relegated to another house, apart from where the people live: I've gotta sympathize with those guys--my wife might not mind exiling most of my cutlery to some other building, too.

That joke aside, this looks like a really interesting piece. What are its dimensions, roughly?

 

[Bill Marsh]

Just for our education: what is it about this that makes it a "piso ni datu," as opposed to some other kind of Batak sword? (I'm always curious to learn such things.)

As to its being relegated to another house, apart from where the people live: I've gotta sympathize with those guys--my wife might not mind exiling most of my cutlery to some other building, too.

That joke aside, this looks like a really interesting piece. What are its dimensions, roughly?

Good questions. It is about 30" long. "Piso" means 'sword.' "ni" means 'of' "Datu" means "magician."

One of the thnigs that distinguishes this sword are the fugures at the top of the handle.

In Batak mythology this represents a couple, well actually a brother and sister (twins) of a noble family. Before they were born a fortune teller foretold that they would have an incestuous relationship. Twins are considered magical in this culture anyhow becasue it is thought that they share a common soul.

So twins are feared and respected. The parents thought that the best idea was to send them to separate ends of the kingdom and never let them know the other existed.

Well, as you can imagine that did not happen. They grew up.

They were inexorably drawn to each other across the distance. Not having an idea that they were twin brother and sister they, well, they got together. Oops!

Later, they were walking through the forest when they heard a noise high in a tree. The boy climbed up to investigate. The girl waited below and finally when he did not come down, she climbed up to find him.

He had been frozen into and become part of the tree. As she climbed up to him, she was also frozen. If you take another look at the handle, you will see the twins locked forever.

The magicians see this as a great magical symbol. The Singha Barong and ancestors become part of the scabbard. But when the blade is drawn, only the twins are there, perched above and part of the metal.

A magical sword. It had a macabre initiation involving a sacrifice of a human being.

I do not support, nor condone such things. I am only a student of various cultures. I had misgivings about acquiring this and I understand why they want it kept in its own house.

 

[Arya]

Greetings Bill,

Your knowledge about the Batak culture even surpassed my imagination and yet I am living in this part of the world.

So, the Piso ni Datu is not meant for combat but rather sacrificial knife? I used to hear that before Dutch colonialization, Batak ppl were cannibals - but they are now good civilized Christians. Can you confirm this Bill?

 

[408serrada]

"Datu" in the Philippines refers to a tribal chieftain.

 

[Bill Marsh]

"Datu" in the Philippines refers to a tribal chieftain.

Sure does! The Datu was the lower rank in the PI chain of command, but often the most powerful guy because the PI tribes were an unruly bunch and independent. The Panglima (next rank up) and the Sultan (top dog) often held much less real power because they did not have the direct control that the datu had.

The word "datu" in the Batak comes from a Tamil (India) word meaning "light" in a sense that "guru" means "light" in the more traditional Hindi.

I have a couple of PI weapons that probably belonged to the higher ranking PI guys. Often the elaborate weapons belonged to wealthy Filipinos that really held no political rank.

The first weapon is a huge two handed sword called a kampilan. This is about 40 inches long. Has a whalebone hilt and grip, very unusual. Stylized crocodile (usual). It is believed that one of these, in a Filipino Moro's hands ended the life of the explorer Magellan who made the fatal mistake of believing his Toledo steel was a match for these "savages."

The second weapon is a Moro Kris of "heirloom quality" as pictured in Robert Cato's "Moro Swords."

 

[408serrada]

Hi Bill,

Wow, fascinating stuff!

I know that there is a widespread belief that Lapulapu's warriors were using Kampilan, but judging from the first-hand accounts of survivors, I am leaning more towards the Lampirong (a scimitar-like weapon). Have you ever seen the statue of LapuLapu in Cebu City? The weapon he is holding is called a Lampirong. Looks alot like a scimitar. Just thought I'd add in my 2 cents as this subject is near to my heart!

Anyone know where I can pick up a nice Lampirong?!!

 

[Bill Marsh]

Do you mean this statue?

Looks like a kampilan to me. Can't find much about the Lampirong. Just a sea shell, not a weapon. Is the word Visayan?

I know a bit about Tagalog and the Luzon area.

Do you have a good picture of a Lampirong?

I just got a Moro kris with a scimitar blade tip. Only the second one I have ever seen, but don't think this is a lampirong.

 

[tedwca]

I think he means this statue. In the original diary of the Italian Antonio Pigafetta, he describes the weapon that killed Magellan as a cutlass.
http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/magellan.htm

One of them wounded him on the left leg with a large cutlass, which resembles a scimitar, only being larger. That caused the captain to fall face downward, when immediately they rushed upon him with iron and bamboo spears and with their cutlasses, until they killed our mirror, our light, our comfort, and our true guide.

There was a discussion on SFI about the difference between the original description and the current kampilan.

EDIT - Odd, upon looking at the statue photos again, they are the SAME statue with a different sword. I seem to recall someone mentioning that after additional research they changed it to the one I posted. I could be wrong.

 

[DannyinJapan]

did they use arnold for the model?