Code: IN16
This is a wonderful pakayun (parang pakayun) from Murut people of Northern Borneo, circa late 19th to early 20th C. Like the mandau, the pakayun is believed to have supernatural power and it is passed as an heirloom from generation to generation.
This well-crafted blade is 50cm long, heavy and thick, and traditionally shaped with a convex obverse and concave reverse. The reverse is also blackened has an almost sawtooth roughness to it. The blade is chiseled details near the hilt. The blade terminus and tip resemble the style called Ti-po-tong. Five brass plugs are inset into the blade near the tip in a decorative style called lantak paku. Brass and copper are sometimes used as elements in blades where there is a desire to protect against magic. The use here is purely speculative. The sword is 69cm in total length.
The wooden hilt and wooden scabbard are both deeply carved with both floral and representational figures such as the spider near the bottom of the scabbard. Resinated rattan is tightly wrapped around the hilt. Unlike the Murut Sangkit, the Murut Pakayun hilt terminates in a forked shape, often with carvings in between the fork such as this.
The scabbard is bound with thick plaited rattan.The handle has tufts of black and brown hair of unknown type.
Edged Weapons of the Indonesian Archipelago
Read more about The Mandau
Read more about Parang in my collection
