Introduction - The Tajong

The tajong is one of the more well known and yet least understood keris of the Malay Archipelago. Better known as the pekaka, pekakak or kingfisher the tajong is certainly one of the most flamboyant and dramatic keris variants in the family of keris forms. Most commonly associated with the ethnic Malay region of Pattani in Southern Thailand, the tajong and other variants are also known to have originated in the Northwestern Peninsular Malaysian state of Kelantan. This area formed the core of the ancient empire of Langkasuka which some scholars suggest was centered somewhere near the present day city of Pattani. This page is designed as a rough guide for experienced keris collectors and researchers and as such assumes some level of familiarity with common keris terminology. Less experienced visitors are encouraged to consult a good guide to the keris. There are a number of useful publications in Indonesian, Malay and various Western languages available

Keris tajong, collection of Mutalib Wan Mahmood, hilt - kenaung, silver, sheath - kemuning, angsana, ca. late-19th early 20th C.

Other Peninsular and Sumatran hilt forms are frequently mis-identified as tajong. In fact, the tajong is quite distinct from those pieces. Features which almost all tajong hilts share include a long beak-like nose which typically curves upward to a point, a deep, narrow, tooth-filled mouth with long curving fangs that protrude from both the upper and lower jaw, a large paisly-like device just behind the head and long talons which cross the front or chest of the hilt just below the neck. Most traditional tajong hilts are made from either kenaung, a type of ebony, kemuning or ketengga hardwoods. The hard and sharp beak-like nose of larger, sturdier hilts would probably have served a practical purpose as well, being convenient to place a backhand blow to the face or chest of an opponent in the event that a forward strike were successfully parried. Tajong hilts are typically, but not always heavily carved with floral motifs and finer pieces represent perhaps the pinnacle of Malay woodcarving. High status pieces traditionally have been fitted with thin pieces of gold or suasa (a low grade gold alloy) on the nose, the eyes, the crown or at the base of the hilt.

Tajong hilt, personal collection, kenaung, Pattani, mid-19th C.

Details of the above hilt showing the front and top views of the piece.

Three Sumatran hilt types sometimes mistakenly identified as tajong hilts. While clearly related they are yet quite distinct from the tajong form.

The blade most commonly associated with the tajong is the keris pandai saras form. Below is a typical example. Other blades do occasionally end up dressed in tajong form but this is fairly rare.

A straight tajong blade. Note the sharp downward angle in the tail of the ganja near the ri-pandan. Personal collection, Pattani, ca. 19th C.

Keris tajong. Note the unusual silverwork on the mouth of this piece. On most tajong metalwork would have been a later addition to the hilt. That silver was not used traditionally on tajong hilts, the preferred metal being gold or suasa. Note also the slight loss of patina in the wood of the beginning of the nose indicating that this piece was repaired at some point. The features of this hilt though indicate that it is between 150 and 200 years old. Hilt - kemuning, sheath - kemuning, angsana, ca. 19th C.

The sheath of the tajong is unique to the form. Typically tajong sheaths are large, quite heavy and very sturdy and would most likely have been used as both a parry and a club in hand-to-hand combat. The tajong sheath consists of a long, rounded batang and a boat-like sampir or cross-piece with upward curving ends. They generally vary from about a foot and a half to two and a half feet in length. Typically a floral "eye of Shiva" is incised on the cross piece either just behind or both behind and in front of the joint with the batang. The prefered material for the batang is angsana, an indigenous hardwood that typically shows a tight flame across the grain of the wood. The sampir is most commonly either kemuning or ketengga. I have been told that very rarely tajong hilts are fitted to sheaths of the tebeng form, a keris type commonly known as the Malay or Peninsular keris. A keris such as this would have been worn by a particular clown character in traditional plays or wayang and would have been viewed by audience members as being very strange and silly. At any rate these pieces were most likely not kept in this particular configuration.

Keris tajong. Hilt - kenaung, silver, sheath - ketengga, angsana, mid-19th C.

Most references to the tajong refer to the form as a keris pekaka (or pekakak) which translates as "kingfisher" in English. Most people in the region who posses a local knowledge of the keris however continue to use the traditional term tajong when referring to the form. The nos e of the tajong hilt does resemble somewhat the beak of the kingfisher bird. However other features in the tajong hilt clearly differentiate it from any normal bird. Older existing pieces clearly show the outlines of arms, legs and feet which indicate that the tajong hilt represents some type of deity or spirit. Islamic st rictures against the creation of false deities and a strict prohibition against the making of objects which, if given the gift of life, could "function" as living beings have gradually effaced these human-like features. This "morphing" of traditional hilt forms into less human-like creations is common in Islamic areas of the Archipelago. It can be clearly observed in the comparison of hilts from Islamic and non-Islamic areas. Hindu-Buddhist Balinese hilts are clearly more human or animal-like than Islamic Bugis, Malay or Javanese forms. The fact tha t the remnants of anthropomorphic features can still be observed in various Jawa demam type hilts, Bugis/Malayan kerdas and pipit teleng hilt types and even Javanese planar hilts certainly confirms their mo re human or animal-like ancestry.

This magnificent tajong was once owned by the last Sultan of Pattani and was purchased from one of his descendents. Note the copper detailing on the eyes and fangs of the hilt. Hilt - kenaung, suasa, Sheath - kemuning, angsana, mid-19th C.

Having spent the better part of twenty-odd years studying the tajong Nik Rashidin concluded that the tajong hilt was a representation the Hindu deity Shiva. He makes a good case for this assertion by comparing motifs in the tajong hilt with other known local traditional representations of Shiva in carvings and wayang kulit or shadow puppets. Nik Rashidin makes this assertion in a paper, Keris Sebagai Senjata Silam, presented to the 1999 keris seminar Keris: Darjat dan Kudrat sponsored by Kraftangan Malaysia. The use of the term pekaka can probably be traced to an error on the part of one of the early British colonial researchers of the keris. In later years, the popular use of the term pekaka in reference to the tajong probably has a great deal to do with efforts on the part of modern dogmatic Islam to deliberately obscure the origins of the hilt form. Origins which are clearly rooted in the Malay world's pre-Islamic past. Additional confusion has been created by the fact that there is a Northeastern Peninsular variant of the Jawa demam form which bears the name pekaka.

Pekaka variant of the Jawa demam form. Note the sharp angle and elongation of the head. 19thC.

This tajong is of particular interest. Somewhat thinner, less intricately carved and lacking a beard the piece resembles the coteng but still possesses the higher, more angular crown of a tajong. I suspect that it could be either an earlier piece made before the classic tajong form evolved or a separate regional variant. Hilt - kenaung, sheath - kemuning.