Black Triangle Silat | The Chained Tiger - Origins of Harimau Berantai Silat

Tuesday, 27 May 2014 11:27

by Guru Scott McQuaid

Foreword:

I immigrated to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to study blade fighting with world-renowned blade
master MahaGuru Jak Othman. My preferred pencak silat style is Minangkabau Silek Harimau
and I wanted to evolvethe blade work within the style. Guru Jak accepted me as his student
and I began my training in thisJavanese system, Harimau Berantai Silat. Over the years I did
manage to evolve the MinangkabauHarimau art while still maintaing the styles structure and
mindset towards combat. But I also becameefficient as a student in Harimau Berantai. This
Indonesian art is both old and rare and the knifetechniques are very real and extremely deadly.
With the blessing of my blade teacher Maha Guru JakOthman I am opening the doors of this
silat style, giving an insight into this closely guarded secret art.Lifes tragedy is that we get old
to soon and wise too late.

The style known as Harimau Berantai Silat comes from central Java in Indonesia; its exact
whereaboutsis unknown. Like many styles of silat this name was not the art's first - in bygone
years silat styles werenamed after the village where the teacher lived or their family name and
others were named after ananimal that had some influence over the art.

Silat roots date back to the Srivijaya warriors around the 7thcentury, during which time silat
expanded with the Srivijaya kingdom across South East Asia and continuedto spread with
immigrants of the Majapahit empire. This was the first empire to unite all of Indonesiasmajor
islands and Javanese silat reached its peak under Majapahit.

Most silat was referred to as Bersilatwhich is a very basic style that exists in two forms. The
first is silat pulot. This is the artistic movementapplied that was exhibited for state visits and

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Black Triangle Silat | The Chained Tiger - Origins of Harimau Berantai Silat
Tuesday, 27 May 2014 11:27

today it is performed for weddings. The other element isknown as

(fruit) which comprises of the actual combative techniques in forms.

silat buah

Silat waspredominately a weapon based fighting system as the battlefields from the 13th to the
16th century wereplaces of blades and blood. The Harimau Berantai style focuses on the
blade, to fight with it and against it.The role of the Srikandi or woman warrior has played a big
part in the development of Harimau Berantaisilat. In the olden days, the women went to war
standing side by side with their male counterparts. Themain weapons used by the these
women warriors were the belati or dagger, the kerambit which is thepopular curved claw
shaped knife and the
ekor pari which is
a stingray tail used as a whip. The womenwould conceal these weapons with the stingray tail
wrapped around their waist beneath their sarong andoften hide the small three inch curved
kermabit blade in the bun tie in their hair.

There is an old folktaleabout the ekor pari or stingray tail. The story tells of a woman in Java

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Black Triangle Silat | The Chained Tiger - Origins of Harimau Berantai Silat
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cooking the stingray fish in herkampung or village. Suddenly a man entered her house and
started to attack her. During the struggle thewoman grabbed the discarded tail of the stingray
and whipped the man to defeat. She shared herdiscovery of this whipping device with her
village and it is then said that the stingray tail was included intothe fighting style of silat. The
Srikandi (women warriors) were exceptional Harimau Beranati pesilats (silatplayers) and it is
because of this why the system today does not rely on strength, but calculated speed,skill and
precession.

The style got its name during the 18th century. Before this time the style wassuspected to be
under a guru or teachers family name. The warrior Pendekar Haji Asraf is said to havebeen a
master of this style and he lead a band of rebels against the Dutch in Indonesia during the 18th
century. Pendekar Asraf's ferocity and expertise in battle earned him a title from his
adversaries. TheDutch called him macan meaning tiger, however due to his status as a pious
man being the head of theIslamic religion for his clan, his people changed the title to Harimau
Berantai which means chained tiger.This meant a warrior chained down to earth by his virtue
and iman or faith in Islam. The chain signifiedthe degree of self control and religious faith. It has
been noted that until today a high degree of self-controlis still the main prerequisite for those
wishing to study this system of pencak silat. Pendekar KiyaiHaji Asraf later furthered the
Harimau Berantai name when he led a rebel group of pesilats to carry outcovert operations on
Dutch military camps. In time his entire clan would become known as Harimau Berantai and
subsequently the silat they practiced.

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Black Triangle Silat | The Chained Tiger - Origins of Harimau Berantai Silat
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Harimau
Berantai
silat
uses
all
the
core
traditional
Indonesian
weapons
as
the
keris
knife),
(wavy
cindai
(sarong
garment),
kapak
kecil
(small
axe),
belati
(knife),
kerambit
(hook
blade),
tekpi
(sai),
parang
(sword),
ekor
pari
(stingray
tail),
pancawangan
sakti
(bladed
tonfa)
and
the
tongkat
(stick).
vulnerable
student
rubber
markings
have
most
the
once
ultimatelyadapts
Berantai
bands
The
do
not
belati
opponent
belati
blade
managed
both
taking
cut
blade
Inhas
blade
thetraining
of
or
fighters
students
each
parts
techniques
the
a
knife.
that
out
lunches
firm
fighting
to
wounds
other
of
their
to
is
fend
The
grasp
would
thehuman
start
laced
the
of
in
enemy
and
training
isvery
off
invarious
Harimau
the
you
to
of
go
martial
with
your
the
move
the
process.
back
have
andsome
realistic.
student
anatomy
red
inthis
techniques
attacker's
changes
arts
Berantai
then
to
inflicted
lip
backfending
are
stick,
silat
the
usually
Traditionally
especially
assessments
of
taught
blade
style
structured
the
upon
theythen
wearing
movement,
student's
steps
is
strikes.
from
your
off
based
those
athe
to
have
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application
opponent
an
white
inthe
making
This
attacking-strategy
Harimau
the
on
almost
directly
to
side
bladed
T-shirtwhich
speed
art
brings
engage
itand
as
today
static
related
becomes
Berantai
more
well
attackers
and
acarries
in
reality
are
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authentic.
asshowing
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asuch
towill
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still
clan
messy,
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out
to
making
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show
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worked
their
positionwhereby
fight
study
and
Harimau
frantic
the
how
drill.
sure
using
once
of
red
in
this
well
But
and
the
small
they
as
athe
of
way.
you

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Black Triangle Silat | The Chained Tiger - Origins of Harimau Berantai Silat
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Initthis
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arteries
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practitioner
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said
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and
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Berantai
neutralize
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of
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aid
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Published
in
Irish
Fighter
magazine,
2014.

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