Language: South Nias
Source: Engelbertus Schröder, 1917

Description

Telögu is the South Nias term for a specific type of sword blade. Schröder described it as "the edge is much longer than the spine and transitions sharply into the spine." The northern word for the same weapon is ròsō.1

Fischer, writing in 1909, presented a typology of both hilts and blade shapes. He uses numbers for each type and does not provide native names for each. The telögu appears to be Fischer type C.

Belatu blade types

After the illustrations by Fischer.
The edge is emphasized for clarity.

 

 

 

Nias telogu

telögu from Nias.
Sold by Mandarin Mansion in 2020.

 

Belatu

These swords are often called belatu, the general word for "knife" or "sword" in the Nias language, but according to Schröder, who worked on the island as a colonial administrator from 1904 to 1909, this was wrong and the locals referred to different types of knives and swords with different names entirely.3

For the other subtypes, see the glossary article: belatu.

 

Hilts

The hilts are often iconographic but the subject of the carvings has been subject to debate.Stylistically, the main head emerging from the pommel is clearly strongly related to the makara, a mythical sea creature often seen in Indian iconography. Some relate it to the làsara, a stylized crocodile, but these are generally not depicted with teeth. Schröder believes the tusks are a reference to the strength of an elephant. Other theories include that they represent wild boar. Schröder dismisses this idea based on the fact that boar were frequently hunted by the Nias, and therefore would look strange on a warrior's sword pommel. But there is often a great mutual respect between the hunter and hunted, and the wild boar is known to attack fiercely when provoked. This has made the boar a symbol of courage in Japanese samurai culture, and with this in mind the Nias depiction of a boar's head on a pommel isn't that strange after-all.

On top of the main head there is usually a smaller figure, almost humanoid, that is often thought to represent a monkey. These are called bekhu.

 

Further reading

Glossary article: Belatu


Notes
1. Engelbertus Eliza Willem Gerards Schröder; Nias. Ethnographische, geographische en historische aanteekeningen en studiën. Brill, Leiden. 1917. Page 235.
2. Fischer, H.W.; Catalogus van 's Rijks Ethnographisch Museum, Deel IV, de Eilanden om Sumatra. E.J. Brill, Leiden, 1909. Page 39.
3. Ibid. Pages 235-236.
4. Ibid. Pages 107 and 237.

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