Bedil is a term from
Maritime Southeast Asia which refers to various types of
firearms and gunpowder weapons, from small pistols to large
siege guns. The term bedil comes from wedil (or wediyal) and wediluppu (or wediyuppu) in the
Tamil language.[1] In their original form, these words refer to gunpowder blast and
saltpeter, respectively. But after being absorbed into bedil in the
Malay language, and in a number of other cultures in the archipelago, Tamil vocabulary is used to refer to all types of weapons that use gunpowder. The terms bedil and bedhil are known in
Javanese and
Balinese. In
Sundanese the term is bedil, in
Batak it is known as bodil, in
Makasarese, badili, in
Buginese, balili, in
Dayak language, badil, in
Tagalog, baril, in
Bisayan, bádil, in
Bikol languages, badil, and in
Malay it is badel or bedil.[1][2][3]
The knowledge of making "true" firearms probably came to Southeast Asia in the late fifteenth century via the
Islamic nations of West Asia, most probably the
Arabs. The precise year of introduction is unknown, but it may be safely concluded to be no earlier than 1460.[8]: 23 This resulted in the development of
Java arquebus, which was also called a bedil.[1] Portuguese influence on local weaponry after the
capture of Malacca (1511), resulted in a new type of hybrid tradition matchlock firearm, the
istinggar.[9]: 53
Portuguese and Spanish invaders were unpleasantly surprised and even outgunned occasionally.[10]Duarte Barbosa recorded the abundance of gunpowder-based weapons in
Java
c. 1514. The Javanese were deemed as expert gun casters and good artillerymen. The weapon found there include one-pounder cannons, long muskets, spingarde (arquebus), schioppi (hand cannon),
Greek fire, guns (cannons), and other fire-works.[11]: 254 [12]: 198 [13]: 224 When
Malacca fell to the Portuguese in 1511 A.D., breech-loading swivel guns (cetbang) and muzzle-loading swivel guns (lela and rentaka) were found and captured by the
Portuguese.[14]: 50 In the battle, the Malays were using cannons, matchlock guns, and "firing tubes".[15]: 146–147 By the early 16th century, the Javanese already locally produced large guns, some of them still survived until the present day and are dubbed as "sacred cannon" or "holy cannon". These cannons varied between 180 and 260-pounders, weighing anywhere between 3–8 tons, length of them between 3–6 m (9.8–19.7 ft).[16]
Saltpeter harvesting was recorded by Dutch and German travelers as being common in even the smallest villages and was collected from the decomposition process of large dung hills specifically piled for the purpose. The Dutch punishment for possession of non-permitted gunpowder appears to have been amputation.[17]: 180–181 Ownership and manufacture of gunpowder was later prohibited by the colonial
Dutch occupiers.[18] According to colonel McKenzie quoted in Sir
Thomas Stamford Raffles', The History of Java (1817), the purest sulfur was supplied from
a crater from a mountain near the straits of
Bali.[17]: 180–181
For firearms using
flintlock mechanism, the inhabitants of the Nusantara archipelago are reliant on Western powers, as no local smith could produce such complex components.[19]: cxli [20]: 98 [21]: 42 and 50 These flintlock firearms are completely different weapons and were known by another name, senapan or senapang, from the Dutch word
snappaan.[8]: 22 The gun-making areas of Nusantara could make these senapan, the barrel and the wooden part is made locally, but the mechanism is imported from the European traders.[21]: 42 and 50 [22]: 65 [20]: 98
List of weapon classified as bedil
Below are weapons historically may be referred to as bedil. The full description should be found on their respective pages. It is sorted alphabetically.
Lela is a type of cannon, similar but larger in dimension to rentaka.
Meriam
Formerly used for a kind of cannon that fires a shot weighing 6 pounds or more,[26]: 93 now it is de factoMalaysian and
Indonesian term for cannon.[27][28]
^Syahri, Aswandi (6 August 2018).
"Kitab Ilmu Bedil Melayu". Jantung Melayu. Archived from
the original on 15 February 2020. Retrieved 10 February 2020.
^Hasbullah, Wan Mohd Dasuki Wan (September 2013). "Teknologi Istinggar Beberapa Ciri Fizikal dalam Aplikasi Teknikalnya". International Journal of the Malay World and Civilisation (IMAN). 1: 51–59.
^Atsushi, Ota (2006). Changes of regime and social dynamics in West Java : society, state, and the outer world of Banten, 1750–1830. Leiden: Brill.
ISBN978-90-04-15091-1.
^Charney, Michael (2004). Southeast Asian Warfare, 1300-1900. BRILL.
ISBN9789047406921.
^Gibson-Hill, C. A. (July 1953). "Notes on the old Cannon found in Malaya, and known to be of Dutch origin". Journal of the Malayan Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society. 26: 145–174 – via JSTOR.
^Modern Asian Studies. Vol. 22, No. 3, Special Issue: Asian Studies in Honour of Professor Charles Boxer (1988), pp. 607–628 (22 pages).
^Dipanegara, P.B.R. Carey, Babad Dipanagara: an account of the outbreak of the Java war, 1825–30 : the Surakarta court version of the Babad Dipanagara with translations into English and Indonesian volume 9: Council of the M.B.R.A.S. by Art Printing Works: 1981.
^Raffles, Sir Thomas Stamford (1830). The History of Java, Volume 2. Java: J. Murray.
^
abEgerton, W. (1880). An Illustrated Handbook of Indian Arms. W.H. Allen.
^Teoh, Alex Eng Kean (2005). The Might of the Miniature Cannon A treasure of Borneo and the Malay Archipelago. Asean Heritage.
^Andaya, L. Y. 1999. Interaction with the outside world and adaptation in Southeast Asian society 1500–1800. In The Cambridge history of southeast Asia. ed. Nicholas Tarling. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 345–401.