A SWORD '' BALATO (TOLOGU)'' OF A HIGH-RANKING WARRIOR

Description:

Indonesia, Nias (South), Ono Niha, 19th c.
L. 69 - 74 cm
The blade of this typical Nias sword is slightly curved inwards and has a black patina. It widens towards the front and drops off abruptly in a sharp curve at its widest point, with the tip lying in the cutting line. The wooden handle with the long, geometrically engraved brass grommet has a large pommel and is patinated black. The pommel represents the head of the lasara, an underworld mythical creature in the sense of the Batak singa, the makkara or the naga pahóda, which has an open mouth and oversized fangs. The tongue sticks out between the powerful jaws. The mouth symbolises the path to the underworld, from which the warrior draws his strength. The side surfaces are scaled and take up the motif of the pommel. In the neck of the lasara often sits a small grotesque figure, the bekhu, which originally represented the life-taking, initiated warrior. In this case, two faces are recognisable, possibly representing the warrior and a head that has been taken. The scabbard of the sword is made of dark-coloured, medium-hard wood and is held together by numerous flat brass bands. The aristocracy of the Nias symbolised and documented their authority through the possession of prestigious metal objects. Above all, these are golden headdresses and weapons such as the balato tologu, the sword of high-ranking warriors, as well as neck and arm jewellery. These objects establish a connection to the ancestors. The concept of the pusaka, the sacred heirloom, which represents a direct reference to the ethereal sphere, becomes particularly clear here. Blacksmiths in southern Nias are mostly nobles or descended from nobles. The steel always seems to have been imported, but the blades were made locally and the basic techniques of refining and hardening were well known. The shape of the sword is endemic and distinctive, although Sumatran influences are unmistakable. Because the blacksmith directly intervenes in or cements the social system by producing objects of rank, his trade is appropriate to the nobility and his work is indebted to the nobility. The blades of important south-nias swords are usually decorated with amulet baskets, ragö or raga ifo boaya, ‘crocodile's vessel’. This is also the case here. The basket gives the sword a soul and protects the wearer. The baskets, usually woven from coarse rattan, sometimes contain strips of red cloth, teeth, jimat amulet stones, figurines and other items and are covered with animal teeth.
From an old German private collection, assembled since the 1950s - Minor traces of age and use, partly slightly chipped