User talk:MantasDaga

MantasDaga (Man'Tas Dag'a) - a ferocious knife; violently cruel in nature; uncontrolled and intensely eager; very wild and disastrous, causing great harm, damage, grief.

Mantas (Man'tas) - The word Mantas was used during the tribal war of the 6th-12th century (Sri-Visayan and Madjaphahit era) this is a Pre-Visayan term applied to the fearless chieftain and to the furious blade warrior of the clan.

Mantas -(Mantas) "People who think of the topmost point of everything". "A man with an extreme survival prowess". "One who posses the greatest degree of ingenuity".

Tas (Ta'as) - a Visayan term for height(hit).n.[<earlier highth;me.heighth;as higthu(akin to Goth.haunitha)<heah(see highath):pronoun.with historical-th is still heard collqially]. 1)"The topmost point of everything" 2)"Greatest degree; extreme; climax; culmination".

Daga (daga) - (dagger)[dag'ger],n.[me.(12th c.),as if <daggen,to slit;akin to Ofr.dague,Lt.andSp. daga,G.degen;L.daca,Dacien knife I. "A short weapon with a sharp point,used for stabbing.'''

Mantas Daga's History

The MantasDaga's of the Philippines are deeply rooted in the history and culture of the Filipino people. They are the products of a highly developed civilization which flourished long before the arrival of the West upon its shores, and of centuries of warfare against a variety of oppressors. Both these factors are responsible for the highly technical and pragmatic outlook of the Filipino martial arts.

The Maharlikas was the original name of the Philippines before the coming of the Portuguese and Spanish in the 15th and 16th centuries. The general consensus among scholars is that the first settlers in the Philippines were the Negritos of prehistory. It is theorized that these small dark-skinned people traveled by land from Central Asia, perhaps via an ancient land bridge. They brought with them the short bow and later developed the long bow.

This process was followed by a series of Malay migrations from what is today Southeast Asia and the Indonesian Archipelago. The first of these began before the birth of Christ. These taller seafaring people brought with them the first bladed weapons as what we called the MantasDaga's or the Kalis.

In the 5th and 6th centuries in Indonesia and Malaysia a huge empire was formed due to the migration of the Hindu tribes of India to Sumatra and Java. The Srividjayan Empire, as it came to be known, eventually spread as far as the Philippines. Their martial arts skills, advanced weaponry, and superior organization made it possible for them to conquer the earlier settlers. Some fled to distant islands, others stayed and the two cultures merged. The Srividjayans were the ancestors of the Tagalogs, Ilocanos, Pampangos, Visayans, and Bicolanos. The area of the Central Philippines where these people first landed is today known as the Visayan region. It is thought by many Filipinos that the island of Panay, the most western part of the Visayan Islands, was the birthplace of this MantasDaga's or Kalis– as the Filipino martial arts were known at that time. The Srividjayans brought the influence of Hindu and Indonesian religion, philosophy, arts, and combative forms to the Philippines and this is Kali (Arnis to some), Silat and MantasDaga.