Malay war dress baju rantai or baju besi

The Baju Rantai (also known as ''Badjoe-Rante'', ''Baju Besi'', ''Baju Rante'', ''Wadjoe-Rante'', and ''Waju Rante'') is a type of armor from Nusantara archipelago (

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Gui ...

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federal constitutional monarchy consists of thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two regions: Peninsular Malaysia and Borneo's East Mal ...

Brunei Brunei ( , ), formally Brunei Darussalam ( ms, Negara Brunei Darussalam, Jawi: , ), is a country located on the north coast of the island of Borneo in Southeast Asia. Apart from its South China Sea coast, it is completely surrounded by th ...

, and

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

Etymology

The name originates from

old Javanese Old Javanese or Kawi is the oldest attested phase of the Javanese language. It was spoken in the eastern part of what is now Central Java and the whole of East Java, Indonesia. As a literary language, Kawi was used across Java and on the island ...

words, ''baju'' comes from ''waju'' meaning jacket, clothing or apparel, meanwhile ''rantai'' comes from ''rante'', ''rantay'', or ''ranti'' which mean chain, string, or wreath.

Description

The Baju Rantai is a chain armor that is worked in the form of a shirt. It consists of small

iron Iron () is a chemical element with symbol Fe (from la, ferrum) and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, right in ...

rings. It has no collar and sleeves that reach about to the elbow. The lower end is approximately at the height of the thighs. It is used by various ethnic groups in Indonesia.

History

One of the earliest mention of Baju Rantai is in Kidung Ranggalawe, a javanese ''kidung'' text that tells about the rebellion of Ranggalawe against

Majapahit Majapahit ( jv, ꦩꦗꦥꦲꦶꦠ꧀; ), also known as Wilwatikta ( jv, ꦮꦶꦭ꧀ꦮꦠꦶꦏ꧀ꦠ; ), was a Javanese Hindu-Buddhist thalassocratic empire in Southeast Asia that was based on the island of Java (in modern-day Indonesia ...

in 1295 A.D.. The name in the text is ''waju rante'', which means apparel consisting of iron chains. Zoetmulder noted the use of special apparel for soldiers: In his research about old Javanese he found a troops called ''bala winaju gangsa ranti'', which means soldier dressed with ''gangsa'' ''ranti''. Gangsa (from

sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural diffusion ...

: ''kangśa'') refers to a kind of

copper Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pink ...

and

lead Lead is a chemical element with the symbol Pb (from the Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a heavy metal that is denser than most common materials. Lead is soft and malleable, and also has a relatively low melting point. When freshly cut, ...

alloy An alloy is a mixture of chemical elements of which at least one is a metal. Unlike chemical compounds with metallic bases, an alloy will retain all the properties of a metal in the resulting material, such as electrical conductivity, ductili ...

, while ''ranti'' means chain. The ''

Hikayat Banjar The Hikayat Banjar (حكاية بنجر) is the chronicle of Banjarmasin, Indonesia. This text, also called the History of Lambung Mangkurat, contains the history of the kings of Banjar and of Kotawaringin in southeast and south Borneo respective ...

'' noted the ''Bhayangkara'' equipments in the Majapahit palace, which includes:

''Maka kaluar dangan parhiasannya orang barbaju-rantai ampat puluh sarta padangnya barkupiah taranggos sakhlat merah, orang mambawa astenggar ampat puluh, orang mambawa parisai sarta padangnya ampat puluh, orang mambawa dadap sarta sodoknya sapuluh, orang mambawa panah sarta anaknya sapuluh, yang mambawa tumbak parampukan barsulam amas ampat puluh, yang mambawa tameng Bali bartulis air mas ampat puluh.''
So came out with their ornaments men with
chain mail Chain mail (properly called mail or maille but usually called chain mail or chainmail) is a type of armour consisting of small metal rings linked together in a pattern to form a mesh. It was in common military use between the 3rd century BC and ...
numbered forty alongside their swords and red '' kopiah'' kull cap men carrying ''astengger'' nowiki/>arquebus.html" ;"title="arquebus.html" ;"title="nowiki/>arquebus">nowiki/>arquebus">arquebus.html" ;"title="nowiki/>arquebus">nowiki/>arquebusnumbered forty, men carrying shield and swords numbered forty, men carrying ''dadap'' [a type of shield] and ''sodok'' [broad-bladed spear-like weapon] numbered ten, men carrying bows and arrows numbered ten, (men) who carried ''parampukan'' spears embroidered with gold numbered forty, (men) who carried Balinese shields with golden water engraving numbered forty.
— Hikayat Banjar, 6.3

Two related ethnic communities of

South Sulawesi South Sulawesi ( id, Sulawesi Selatan) is a province in the southern peninsula of Sulawesi. The Selayar Islands archipelago to the south of Sulawesi is also part of the province. The capital is Makassar. The province is bordered by Central Sul ...

, the

Bugis The Bugis people (pronounced ), also known as Buginese, are an ethnicity—the most numerous of the three major linguistic and ethnic groups of South Sulawesi (the others being Makassar and Toraja), in the south-western province of Sulawesi ...

and Makassarese, also adopted chain mail armor which they call as ''waju rante'' or ''waju ronte''. The armor is made by string of iron rings tied together, which makes it similar to knitwork. The Bugis and Makassarese soldiers were known for using chain mail and

muskets A musket is a muzzle-loaded long gun that appeared as a smoothbore weapon in the early 16th century, at first as a heavier variant of the arquebus, capable of penetrating plate armour. By the mid-16th century, this type of musket gradually dis ...

which they made themselves.

Etymology

Description

History

See also

Notes

References

Further reading