The Snake Systems of Pukulan Cimande Pusaka

 

By Pendekar Sanders

 

 

Many hundreds of years ago when Animism was the primary belief system in Indonesia the native people understanding that the power of the creator was present in every single thing looked to the animals which were plainly endowed with superior strength and reflexes to gain a glimpse of the way in which to learn to defend themselves against those who would harm them. Thus the original systems of Pencak Silat sought to not only copy animal type movements but to actually invite that portion of the creator that animates each animal to come into there own body to gain additional knowledge and strength of that animal. That synergistic, symbiotic relationship developed a Martial system that often is more animalistic in its mannerism than many other arts who only try and copy a movement. As time went by and other religions took there turn in the Islands they attempted at times to try and eliminate the animal aspects and concentrate more on humanistic ways which in many cases have eroded the combat effectiveness of the arts according to a lot of the Old Pendekars. In the 1980's one of my teachers Pendekar Jafri broke his affiliation with the national Indonesian Pencak Silat Association due to them wanting to down play the animal mannerism’s . He did not believe that was in the best interest of the original combat priority of old Pencak Silat. The Form of Pencak Silat I practice Pukulan Cimande Pusaka incorporate the old aspects of four animal mannerisms, The Monkey, Tiger, Snake and Crane. Even many of the Cimande arts practiced today only have a vestige of the all of the animals. For instance in the stylized foot work that Cimande practices called Tarian, one is the Blakok, which is Crane . Yet many of the practitioners who practice this Don't realize they have a crane element they are practicing, and it used to be combative.

 

In this article I will explain a little of one of our Animals, THE SNAKE.  There are two types of Snake mannerisms we practice. The first is the Cobra (Ular Sendok) There are many cobra in Indonesia and of course this proud animal has the capacity to strike quickly and be deadly when cornered or on the attack . The second Snake is the Python ( Python , Ular Suwa) which uses its bite to secure a hold while the snake wraps up its prey twisting and breaking . In the first case of the Cobra this animal introduces the student to the important concepts of body weaving and mesmerizing hypnotic effects, allowing the awareness of the opponent to be stolen long enough to effect the strikes that quickly follow. These strikes are fast hitting out of any position which are blows that create swelling , tearing , surface impact blows which are non breaking in Nature but highly disabling to muscles and nerves just as venom is. These blows utilize the principle of a whip in its highest form as a snake is in fact a perfect living whip. The body and the arm weaving and swaying induces the stupor mentioned in the opponent  by a combination of physical movement and  a power that is developed in the eyes of the practitioner as well as various facial grimaces and voice assist type snake noises .A very unusual technique of actually looking away from the opponent , or indirect vision is employed by the snake fighter at first to lull the opponent into a false sense of safety , this changes to a quick penetrating gaze, directed at the opponent with a wide eye expression, just before the finale strike which freezes him in his tracks for the finale assault. With the Python a variety of wraps are done on the opponent, often while his foot is also trapped  These Wraps are done more as a quick twisting strike that from the shear impact of the blow twists the trapped fighter in such a way that something breaks or I should say snaps. This is not a system that utilizes wraps or locks for submission. The Snake is a mid range to close range system. Using the raw original animal traits from these two snakes gives the Pukulan Cimande Pusaka Practitioner an Awesome arsenal. In the Advanced classes more attributes are explained along with the various ways each part of the body is used  and the actual old way of invoking the essence of the animal into the student is also  taught , something rarely seen or understood in more eclectic Silat systems