Pawakan
 

The forum has been a bit quiet lately, so I thought we might do a small experiment on pawakan - the feeling evoked by a blade. To provide some more background:

Tangguh is evaluated according to a a blade's features, most of which - according to my understanding - cannot be appraised from a photo.

Pamor and pawakan, I feel, are most easily identified from photos, and it is pawakan in particular that this thread seeks to explore.

The descriptions on the definition and categories here are taken from Jean's book "The Keris - Legendary Weapon from Indonesia". The section on pawakan refers to the Ensiklopedi Keris as the main source. (Please correct me if I inadvertently got this wrong, Jean.)

Pawakan is defined as "the evaluation of the style and rhythm of the blade shape and the impression about its characterization". The following categories are listed:

• kaku: clumsy, not harmonious
• wingit: eerie, giving a terrifying impression
• prigel: giving a deft and skilled impression
• sedeng: average
• demes: giving a neat impression and nice-looking
• wagu: not harmonious
• odol: coarse, sloppy
• kemba: tasteless
• tampa semu: not giving any impression
• sereng: strong, fierce
• bagus/ayu: handsome, pleasing

Now this is quite a list already and I get the impression there is some overlap between some of these terms.

How to play
Once someone has posted a photo (from profile, tip of the blade pointing up, kembang kacang pointing to the left) we can weigh in on how each of us perceives the pawakan and why it evokes such a feeling in us.

It'll be interesting to see if there are large differences in our perceptions of whether we will all end up at or near the same one.

Hopefully this will provide some entertainment and education!

To start with a blade from Jean's book.

My impression is kaku (clumsy, not harmonious).
The weak undulations make the blade appear wonky and somewhat unbalanced. Other features are more difficult to evaluate due to erosion, but for the gandhik I find it unharmonious that the angle seems to change quite abruptly (viewing it going up from the gonjo), though this might be due to lighting.

Hello Bjorn,
You are correct about my source and your impression about the overlapping categories and my ex-blade, I will let others comment on the subject...
Regards

Bjorn, you have opened a subject that I had hoped would never be opened.

If I write what really should be written it would make me very unpopular and put me in conflict with (I believe) every modern writer, & perhaps a few writers from previous times. So I'm not going to get too deeply into this discussion, at least, that is my intention right now. I intend to try to skirt around any direct contradictions and just do my best to explain the meanings of the concepts involved.

I'll start with the word "pawakan". The root of this word is "awak":- this is a Ngoko word & it means "body", as in the human body; this word has come into BI and in this language it also means "body" as well as being able to be used without the suffix "ku" to refer to oneself.

When "awak" gains a prefix & suffix :- " pa-wak-an" , ie "pawakan", it means the shape of the human body.

This word "pawakan" can only be used for humans and other living beings, it cannot be used to refer to inanimate objects.

This tells us something about the keris:- in the Javanese mind the keris is not an inanimate object, it is a living object.

So, when we look at a keris and attempt to classify the pawakan of that keris, we must apply similar standards to classification as we would apply to a human being. The most common use of "pawakan" by a native speaker of Javanese is to refer to the overall physical appearance of a man or woman. When we refer to the pawakan of a keris, we are again referring to the overall physical appearance of the keris, the entire keris, from the tip of the pesi to the point of the blade.

The feeling that is generated in somebody by a keris is not pawakan, this feeling is "wanda". The dictionary meaning of "wanda" is "body"; "wanda" is literary usage, which means it is Kawi, the direct translation from Kawi to Ngoko is "awak", which, as above, is the root of "pawakan", so if we use "wanda" to refer to a feeling, this usage of the word draws upon the Wayang usage of "wanda" where it means the outwards appearance of the wayang puppets that is used to express emotion. Different people can interpret a man's outward appearance as expressing different moods or emotions. It is the same with a keris, different people can have a different feeling generated by the wanda (the outward appearance of the keris).

But that feeling is not the same as the feeling that can be generated by a keris when it is held. For somebody with an advanced level of keris understanding, the spirit, or personality of the keris, its "batin" can be felt and assessed without the necessity of seeing the keris.

It is not uncommon for some people to confuse these aspects of "pawakan", "wanda" & "batin".

With "batin" we are referring to the inner feeling of the keris, that which is hidden, but might be able to be felt, with "pawakan" we are referring only to what we can see, with "wanda" we are referring to the impression formed from what we can see.

I have not heard the word "pasikutan" used in Solo as a substitute for "pawakan", in fact, I do not believe I have ever heard it used at all. I have run this word past several native speakers --- ordinary people, well educated, but not academics who study literature --- and none of these people recognise the word, however, I have seen this word in print, and Harsrinuksmo uses it repeatedly to refer to both physically observed characteristics (pawakan) and to the impression that these physically observed characteristics might generate (wanda).

Although I do not know the word "pasikutan", there is a Kawi word "pasikepan", which translated to Javanese has the meaning of "awak", once again the root for "pawakan". Since I cannot find a native speaker of Javanese who knows this word, and since I needed to search some rather obscure sources to find any word even remotely like "pasikutan", I rather feel that this word "pasikupan" might be a recent corruption of the Kawi "pasikepan" that has been adopted by the current community of keris enthusiasts. I could be totally wrong about this, and I would welcome correction.

So, to recap:-

pawakan:- overall physical appearance

wanda (pron. "wondo"):- the impression generated by what we can see

batin:- the inner feeling generated by what we cannot see.

pasikutan:- perhaps this word is a corruption of the Kawi pasikupan and is used to refer to both physical appearance & impression created by that physical appearance.

In order to assess the blade angle the line between gonjo & blade base should be horizontal.

Thank you Alan, for what you are willing to say. :)

Thanks for the informative post, Alan.
I love languages so I thoroughly enjoyed reading through it.

This considerably changes my visual perception of the keris

Alan - thanks for clarifying the meaning of pawakan and other adjacent terms. You raise a very insightful point regarding the word "pawakan" and how it suggests that the keris is not perceived as inanimate in the Javanese mind.

If it is not perceived as inanimate, then pawakan (not to mention wanda) seems to me to be a very important concept when it comes to describing things about the keris that we can see with our eyes. We might then be going some levels deeper with wanda and batin, where batin seems to be approaching a perception of a keris' essence.

~

Bjorn has provided us with a list of categories for pawakan. According to Alan's definition perhaps these categories and words are better described as words related to wanda. But they were helpful for me to at least think of a question about categories and classifications when it comes to the keris and what purpose they serve.

The tangguh system uses the names of historical, sometimes mythical, polities or (pseudo)geographical places. The tangguh system may have served the purpose of making a judgment on a kerises value based on whether there is honour associated with that keris' classification.

So, off the back of that, some questions that I'd like to ask about pawakan.

* Is it a system like tangguh, where it has a finite list of categories that might be represented by Javanese words referring to physical features?

* Would a student learn this by way of referring to kerisses considered to be archetypes or standards, and sighting or handling many over a learning lifetime?

* Does it serve a social or practical purpose other than to have a specific lexicon by which to describe kerises, in the same way that tangguh has a purpose and lexicon?

* Does understanding and knowing how to classify pawakan (or tangguh, or wanda, or batin) mean that one understands the keris? (what even does it mean to understand the keris?)

Novan, this is a solid presentation.

Keep this sort of thinking up and you might even get to learn something worthwhile about the keris.

Well done.

Alan - thanks for clarifying the meaning of pawakan and other adjacent terms. You raise a very insightful point regarding the word "pawakan" and how it suggests that the keris is not perceived as inanimate in the Javanese mind.

If it is not perceived as inanimate, then pawakan (not to mention wanda) seems to me to be a very important concept when it comes to describing things about the keris that we can see with our eyes. We might then be going some levels deeper with wanda and batin, where batin seems to be approaching a perception of a keris' essence.

Yes Novan, it is important, and I think that for many people, Javanese collectors, dealers & etc included, the concept of "pawakan" might be as far as classification of a keris goes, in the sense that "if it looks like a Majapahit keris, it is a Majapahit keris" . Overall visual impression.

However, that visual impression also is supposed to generate a judgement of "good" or "not so good>bad". What I actually wrote in my notebook in about 1983 or 84 was:-
"pawakan which is good will give a harmonious impression when viewed at arms length. Not leaning forward over the gandhik too much, not standing too straight"
So we have all these other terms that Harsrinuksmo has thrown into the ring, but honestly, in terms of keris pawakan, I have never heard most of them.

Its not just that either, to understand what a word really means in a different language you must be able to speak and understand the language. You must be able to understand how native speakers express their ideas, the parameters that apply. Somebody who is judged as handsome or beautiful by an Australian, might be judged as quite the opposite by a person of Pacific Island heritage. Even where a translation from one language to another language is reasonably accurate, does that word in a different language conjure up the same, or even similar mental image as it does in the original language?

So to begin to be able to use the pawakan concept as it might be used in, say, Solo by a Javanese keris literate person, you really should not only be able to speak the language, but also you should at least understand how to apply cultural & societal mores.

~

Bjorn has provided us with a list of categories for pawakan. According to Alan's definition perhaps these categories and words are better described as words related to wanda. But they were helpful for me to at least think of a question about categories and classifications when it comes to the keris and what purpose they serve.

Bjorn's list of words was apparently lifted from Jean, who lifted from Harsrinuksmo.

Lets look at the list:-
• kaku: clumsy, not harmonious --- stiff, rigid, ALSO clumsy, awkward, ungainly (BI), in Basa Jawa(BJ) stiff, awkward

• wingit: eerie, giving a terrifying impression --- does not exist in BI, in BJ haunted, spooky, dangerous (also singit)

• prigel: giving a deft and skilled impression --- skilful (BI), ditto + dexterous (BJ)

• sedeng: average --- in BI "sedeng" with the first "e" accented means "with a part in the hair", or with both "e"'s accented in Jakarta dialect it means "crazy", however, and this is where things get interesting, what Harsrinuksmo really means is "sedang", "sedeng" being an alternate colloquial pronunciation for "sedang", and one of the meanings in BI for "sedang" is "average, moderate, medium". In BJ neither sedang nor sedeng exist, but we do have "sedhang", first "e" accented which means "folded diagonally" and we have "sedheng" which means "enough, just right"
I have no problems with BI and I'm OK with BJ ngoko, I also know a little bit about keris, I know immediately what Harsrinuksmo means by "sedeng". But unless you can in fact use the language how confusing might all this be?

• demes: giving a neat impression and nice-looking --- in BI "demes" first "e" accented means a flat nose, "demes", no accents, does not exist, in BJ "dhemes" first "e" accented means "with a refined or distinguished manner", "demes" does not exist in BJ

• wagu: not harmonious --- "wagu" in BI does not exist, "wagu" in BJ means "ungainly, poorly proportioned, unpleasing, tasteless"

• odol: coarse, sloppy --- in BI this is the colloquial name of toothpaste, in BJ it does not exist, but "odhol" does exist , being just a slightly different pronunciation, and one of its meanings is toothpaste, but another meaning (amongst several) is "rough, crude"

• kemba: tasteless --- this word is not found in BI, in BJ it means "insipid, without spirit" , it appears not to be a common word.

• tampa semu: not giving any impression --- in BI "tampa" should be "tanpa"> "without", & "semu" has several meanings, the applicable one here would be, I think, "appearance", in BJ "tanpa" is also "without", "semu" can also be appearance, but again, this is interesting, because use of this word extends to meanings like "what can be read on the face", "what is outwardly visible of something inside", "to seem to be something", "to have the appearance of something"

• sereng: strong, fierce --- in BI, "sereng", first "e" accented means a firecracker, specifically a skyrocket, without an accent the word does not exist, in BJ "sereng" means "stern, harsh, angry"

• bagus/ayu: handsome, pleasing --- in BI "bagus" means "fine, good, exemplary"; "ayu" means "pretty, beautiful"; in BJ the word "bagus" is not found, in BJ "ayu"means "pretty, beautiful"

I have not given my understandings in the above, I have given dictionary meanings, for BI : Echols & Shadily, for BJ: Robson & Wibisono.
Have a close look at the dictionary meanings, and then consider if you believe that you can accurately use any of Harsrinuksmo's pawakan terms to accurately classify pawakan.


The tangguh system uses the names of historical, sometimes mythical, polities or (pseudo)geographical places. The tangguh system may have served the purpose of making a judgment on a kerises value based on whether there is honour associated with that keris' classification.

So, off the back of that, some questions that I'd like to ask about pawakan.

* Is it a system like tangguh, where it has a finite list of categories that might be represented by Javanese words referring to physical features?

pawakan is a part of the system of tangguh, and if we consider the overall visual impression of a keris in a similar way to the way in which we consider the overall visual impression of a man it does have some use, but some of the words in the Harsrinuksmo list I would find extremely difficult to apply to either a man or a keris if it was just there in front of me doing nothing


* Would a student learn this by way of referring to kerisses considered to be archetypes or standards, and sighting or handling many over a learning lifetime?

in the 1970's and 1980's, in Solo, it was a pretty general standard that no recognised ahli keris (keris expert/authority) would accept as pupil any man who was not a married & with family, a settled member of the community, in age terms this meant that most prospective students under about 40 years of age were rejected. Now, if one has reached 40 and had the more or less varied life experience of a married 40 year old with responsibilities then one is going to have a degree of experience in judging men simply by the way they look. Think of a keris as a man, and this experience becomes transferable. However, as with all experience knowledge and ability usually increases with age, so yes we are looking at a lifetime of learning.

* Does it serve a social or practical purpose other than to have a specific lexicon by which to describe kerises, in the same way that tangguh has a purpose and lexicon?

as above, pawakan is one of the tells used in providing a tangguh, it gives us a peg to hang an opinion as to the excellence or otherwise of the keris, just that. If somebody wishes to try to tell us why he thinks that the pawakan of any particular keris is either suggestive of excellence or suggestive of something else, well, he can use any words in his own language to do so, he need not stick with Harsrinuksmo's list, which frankly I find just a little less than definitive

* Does understanding and knowing how to classify pawakan (or tangguh, or wanda, or batin) mean that one understands the keris? (what even does it mean to understand the keris?)

of course not, it is just one tell, or indicator, amongst many, but understanding of keris is a different ball game. Empu Suparman considered that the "understanding" of keris began with three basic levels:-

1) to learn the features, two ways of looking at this:- sepuh(age), wutuh(degree of preservation), tangguh(opinion of factors indicating origin), this way is the old way; a more recent way is "morjasirapngun" = pamor, waja(steel),wesi(iron), garap(workmanship), wangun(design, shape, appearance), using this more recent standard one appraises each of the things mentioned separately

understand:- this is kindergarten, this is the first level of understanding, and this first level includes a thorough understanding of tangguh. According to Empu Suparman , to learn everything included in level one will take a number of years.

2) to learn an appreciation of form; the first part of this is to understand "guwaya", this means "complexion". and it refers to an understanding of when the colour of a keris is well presented and does in fact agree with the tangguh that the keris appears to have, this of course means that we need to know what colour, or "complexion" a keris of , say, Majapahit tangguh should have when it has been correctly stained.
The second part of understanding form is to understand wanda, this means that we need to be able to gauge the personality or feeling of a keris. The same keris can generate different feeling in different people, in the same way that a man can be judged differently by different people. Examples of how one might express the wanda of a keris would be: wild, brave, angry, proud, friendly, quiet, bad, afraid --- I'm using English so I do not need to go into writing a dictionary again. It is only possible to proceed to this second level after the first level is perfect. Most people do not make it to the second level.

3) the third level is to understand the feeling of a keris. In the opinion of Empu Suparman it is a total impossibility to understand feeling until a complete understanding of level one and two have been achieved. A person who is skilled at level three can form a judgement from vibration alone, he does not need to see the keris, he only needs to hold it and he will receive a clear impression of the esoteric qualities of the keris. At this third level the physical appearance of the keris is totally irrelevant.

What I've given here is a very shortened summary of Empu Suparman's opinions and beliefs, and these would reflect the opinions and beliefs of most Central Javanese ahli keris during the period I was gaining my keris education, roughly 1970's to around 2010.

However, my own opinion of what understanding of the keris involves goes along a slightly different path. I believe that it is absolutely necessary to have an understanding of Javanese and Balinese beliefs, and to be able to understand these beliefs in a way that is as close as possible to the way in which a keris literate Javanese or Balinese person would understand the beliefs.
However, my idea of "understanding" includes several other levels of understanding that incorporate socio-cultural understandings, and spiritual understandings that move away from the fairly restricted belief systems of the keris experts. I also include the purely technical aspects of manufacture.

In any case, the understanding of the keris is something that does require reasonably dedicated learning over a lengthy period. I've been at it for around 66 years, and I'm still a very long way from actually knowing very much at all.

'Not knowing much at all.'
 

Dear Alan; My teacher, the incomparable Ustad Ali Akbar Khan, considered by many to be the greatest Indian musician of the 20th century, said, towards the end of his life that he "Was just beginning to achieve an understanding of music." You may "Not know much at all", but if I need information on a keris, as I have before, I'll gladly ask you. There's a difference between 'not knowing much at all', which is quite legitimate for you to say, and being the kind of authority that I know you to be. As for me, I'm at the level of "I like that" or "I dislike that".

Actually Montino, I feel that "like" and "not like" is a pretty OK place to start, in fact, maybe this is a good criterion for most people.

Thank you for the encouragement, and for such a detailed and thoughtful response.

I've been digesting it since, and I should have expressed my thanks sooner.

I'd hate for this discussion to collect dust and start to adopt the scent of kretek, coals from sate bbqs and keresone here in the annals of the great archive that is Keris Warung Kopi. So I intend to pick it up again as soon as I can clear the many cognitive cobwebs that are the result of trying to do too many things at once ;)

Jaga, when you asked your big question, you really hit right at the heart of understanding at least one of the aspects of keris knowledge. My response to your question does, I think, give more about the idea of pawakan than we might be able to find elsewhere. It does surprise me just a little that what I have written has not generated comment, so maybe this means that everybody who has read it now has a perfect understanding of my words and the ideas that those words represent. I did not realise that my writing was so clear and precise.

Alan,

As a casual reader about the keris on these pages I think your frank and insightful comments have taken people somewhat by surprise. Like jaga, I'm absorbing your analysis of language and the meaning of the terms used to describe the keris. The German word gestalt comes to mind, in that the whole is much more than the sum of its parts. By distilling these classifications into "like" or "dislike" as a starting point for the novice or casual reader, you have done a great favor for the uninitiated who may wish to think more abut why they like or dislike a certain item.

I don't know if this was your intention.

Regards,

Ian.

Ian, when I set out to respond to the original question, my intention was to put into simple, plain English language the central essence of my own understanding of pawakan & the elements surrounding it. I have had the benefit of learning from a man who was recognised during his lifetime as a great master of traditional Javanese beliefs. I have learnt other things from other people & other sources.

All this has helped to form my own perspective, which does vary a little from the perspectives of most of the people who gave me their knowledge & understanding.

To my mind the single most important thing that we must learn before we can even begin to have a small understanding of the keris is the World View of the people to whom it is a cultural icon:- the traditional Javanese and traditional Balinese people. In the absence of this understanding I believe it is impossible to understand much at all about the keris.

Regrettably I have found that it is really quite difficult to find people in Jawa & Bali today who have a similar World View, and similar values to those held by the people I knew in Jawa & Bali forty or fifty years ago.

I guess this is true of many places in the world today.

You, Ian are, I believe ridgydidge Oz. True Blue Australian.

How long is it since you encountered a real fair dinkum Man of the Land?

Even fairly humble cattle & sheep men send their kids to Sydney Grammar or Kings, and then sometimes on to Oxford. How many of this generation of Men of the Land would understand their grandfathers or the values of their Grandfathers?

What I tried to do with what I wrote was to present a starting point for people who cannot do what I have done.

Alan,

Yes, I am a fair dinkum Aussie! My mother's family were dairy farmers from remote NE Victoria and the Man From Snowy River is buried in her home town. As a kid in 1950, I saw one of the last bullock trains still operating. The traditional ways are long gone now, of course, and everything is mechanised and computerised. There are still "old characters" around in their nineties, but they are getting fewer every year. I have not seen a drover on a horse in the last fifty years.

So yes, the traditional methods and knowledge have disappeared with time and progress.

Ian.

I'm up a bit south of Nowra Ian, near a little town called Tomerong, used to be a big timber town up until about 1950 or so. Saw mills all over the place.

There was still a bullock team operating here into the 1990's.

Nowra itself was a cowtown into the 1960's, but its pretty much a suburb of Sydney now. 100 miles from Sydney, a lot of the dairy farms have become Pitt Street farmers weekend get aways with pretty little horses and Galloway cows.

Bit hard to find any genuine country people here these days, most have opted for an easier life, shuffling papers or acting the part of baristers in Balmain coffee shops.

Old Oz is on the way down the tubes.

Ever tried to buy a decent axe recently?

Cheap garbage. You want a decent axe you need to order from a custom maker. In the 1990's you could still buy 5 pound and 5 1/2 pound axes in the hardware store in Nowra. Hytests. But no Plumbs or Keesteels.

No decent hardware stores left either. Bunnings killed them.

Been a lot of change in only the last 20 or so years.

3) the third level is to understand the feeling of a keris. In the opinion of Empu Suparman it is a total impossibility to understand feeling until a complete understanding of level one and two have been achieved. A person who is skilled at level three can form a judgement from vibration alone, he does not need to see the keris, he only needs to hold it and he will receive a clear impression of the esoteric qualities of the keris. At this third level the physical appearance of the keris is totally irrelevant.

For this third level, is it something that is arrived at as a consequence of becoming expert at the first and second levels? Or does it necessarily require that the person already have an innate sensitivity or "claim" to this ability?

JB, this third level is in my understanding not something for everybody, there needs to be that special quality as well as the deep formal understanding.

The formal understanding can be learnt, but that does not necessarily mean that having become competent at level one & two, a person can automatically progress to level three.

However, although somebody might have that special gift to cross from the seen to the unseen world, without the foundation of the formal understanding nobody can expect to understand the esoteric qualities of a keris that might be expressed by a transmission of feeling.

When I first encountered these ideas I thought of Luciano Pavarotti. His father understood what was needed to make a singer who rose above the ordinary, Pavarotti's father was a singer himself, but he earnt his living as a baker. Luciano had an inborn talent, his initial guidance was from his father, but it took him 20 years of training & experience to develop the voice he was born with into the instrument it became.

In the absence of early guidance and a lifetime of learning Luciano Pavarotti would have been just another good singer.

It is the same with being able to understand a keris through feeling alone:- we need the experience, knowledge & understanding that can be learnt, but then we need that special gift that permits us to move from the world that we see into the world that we feel.

As far as I was able to understand this idea, it was not exclusively the opinion of Empu Suparman, but it was an opinion that seemed to be held by every upper level ahli keris that I encountered in Solo between 1980 and about 2000.

Thank you once again, Alan

Hello all. Returning to this discussion as I have some more questions.
Alan - these are primarily addressed to you as they are formed after reading your posts and I would be grateful for more of your knowledge on these subjects. But I also welcome perspectives from others should they have a view on them.

I'd like to apologise in advance for what may be long-winded ways of approaching the questions.

On Pawakan (overall visual appearance)


From other discussions in this forum, I have seen pawakan used in a way to describe how a keris generally looks for the purposes of discussing classification.

For example, it seems that someone could say that a keris has the overall visual appearance of a Madura keris, despite having more specific features that might not be Madura.

But I have also seen pawakan used in such a way such as to describe a keris as awkward or not-harmonious.

I can see how the former is related to overall visual appearance, but the latter seems to me to be a description of the feelings generated due to its physical appearance i.e. wanda.

❓Is there a blurry line between pawakan and wanda, or am I misunderstanding?


On Wanda (the feeling or personality of the keris)



Worldly and experienced people who are good judges of character could use different words or characteristics to judge the same man. On the other hand they could also have polar opposite judgments depending on their experiences, biases or values.

A proud-chested well dressed man might cause a person to judge him as confident and brave, while another might judge him to hiding some kind of insecurity.

It seems much more subjective than pawakan as we are approaching internal feelings and qualities informed by, but not formed entirely by what our eyes see, which can be anchored to shared commonly shared perceptions shaped by society.

Then it seems reasonable to me that two esteemed ahli keris could easily have different feelings about the same keris and that wouldn't be controversial.

This leads me to ask what the purpose of this judgment or information is.

My initial assumption is that if wanda is part of menangguh ('doing' tangguh), then a positive wanda - e.g. bravery - would be better for the keris' prestige or value than a negative wanda - e.g. cowardly. And if the tangguh system was made by a particular class of people in Javanese society as a way of judging the real-world market value of a keris, then an esteemed ahli keris' judgment of a keris' wanda seems to be important.

❓But what if we take tangguh out of the picture?
❓Is this information useful or valuable outside of the context of "value"?


On Batin

❓Given that this has no basis in how a keris looks, from where does batin originate?

Pawakan is usually used to refer to a man, it is his outward appearance, for example if a man stoops a little too much and bows his head, he looks humble, if he stands too straight he looks awkward, so with keris, what we are looking for is an overall appearance of harmony, the overall form of a keris should create a harmonious impression.

Wanda (wondo) is the personality of the keris, the feeling that we might get from the keris; just as a man might create an entirely different feeling in different people, so the wanda of the keris can create a different feeling in different people.

Pawakan:- outward appearance, we want to see a harmonious appearance

Wanda :- personality, the feeling generated by the keris, and this feeling can be different in different people.

Wanda is NOT an indicator used in keris classification, pawakan is.

In Basa Jawa, batin refers to one's inner feelings, the core of self; kebatinan is the inner self, it is a synonym of spiritualism and mysticism.

Example:- Empu Suparman's house was diagonally opposite a mesjid, the call to prayer from this mesjid was often unreasonably loud, some would say that although it was situated in Kampung Komplang, Solo, that call to prayer could be heard in Jakarta. When it would start up, Empu Suparman's constant complaint was that it "--- menganggu kebatinan saya---" in English, it disturbed his inner self.

In Bahasa Indonesia it has wider applications, related, but some marginally different, I believe it probably came into BI from Malay, as BI originates from a dialect of Malay that is spoken in Southern Sumatera.

However, it would, I believe, have come into both BJ & Malay from Arabic, where I think the original meaning was "hidden" or "esoteric".

I don't think I have heard the word "batin", or "kebatinan" used in relation to a tangguh classification, but I guess some people might be able to relate wanda to an effect upon their inner self.

In respect of the value of wanda & pawakan, well, assessment of pawakan can play a role in determination of the tangguh classification of a keris, and thus of its monetary value.

In respect of wanda, this can impact upon the personal value to an individual that the keris might have for the specific individual. Thus pawakan is something that can be perceived by everybody, wanda is specific the individual.

Now I will issue the same caution that was issued to me:- do not think for one moment that you can understand pawakan or wanda where it relates to keris until you have a very high level of keris knowledge and you understand how a keris should look and feel. This will take years of study & experience. You cannot learn something like this in five minutes.

Thank you for clarifying so clearly, Alan. Your caution is well noted.

Hello everybody,

I thought I'll put my understandings on pawakan, wondo and batin/roso based on what Alan explained here. Please correct me if I am wrong.

Pawakan : The physical form, the shape. Size, length, width, curvatures and the combination of the shapes. It is harmony if the combination is good. Like people, the person looks good if the physical proportion of the person is balanced; not the hands are too long.. stuff like that.

Wondo: The feeling that comes from looking at the physical form. Different combination can generate different feeling. On a person, wondo means a person can look athletic, can look happy, strict etc. - due to his/her physical appearance.

Rasdan, I think you've got the pawakan right, but wanda is very difficult. As I warned these things take years of experience to understand and not everybody gets the idea.

Lets think about the keris as if it is a person.

Now, there you are in the office, at the meeting, wherever, and one of your friends walks in with somebody you've never seen before, this new comer is a bit lopsided, his left eye squints, his hair seems to wanting to go in several different directions at the same time, he's skinny, his coat hangs on him like it is on a clothes hanger, he is constantly hitching up his pants because he doesn't have sufficient meat on his frame to hold those pants up for very long.

In short, this is a pretty unattractive person. His outward appearance is just straight out off-putting. He is definitely not going to get head hunted to be the new head of customer relations.

Later in the evening he comes up to you and strikes up a conversation, and believe it or not the two of you find common ground and that conversation continues way past the end of the meeting.

The two of you really hit it off, for you, that ugly little man has an aura, a captivating personality, his inner self is in harmony with your inner self.

But for somebody else, that ugly little man might forever be no more than an ugly little man.

Now apply that same idea to a keris.

I have a keris that I rescued from a dealer's rubbish bin. The wrongko was in several pieces, but it was complete and not really badly damaged. The keris itself was worse than corkscrew shape, rusty, frayed edges, loose gonjo.

The dealer was not prepared to spend the necessary money on restoration because restoration cost would have been higher that sale value --- or so he thought.

I asked to buy it, it was not sold to me, it was given to me.

I took it home, I reforged it and reworked it, I repaired the wrongko & pendok. It restored as very nice Pajajaran Kebo Lajer. I feel a very close attachment to this keris. It has --- for me --- a very special personality.


This is wanda.

We are talking about something you cannot see, only feel.

Thank you Alan for the correction. I can understand now what you mean by wondo can be difficult to comprehend.

So wondo is not physical observation. Rather it is the feeling, the "acquaintance". Therefore wondo can be different from person to person. So does this means that wondo cannot be learnt? Since the feeling generated is different to different individual?

I think you might be part right Rasdan.

I do not think it is possible to teach somebody how to gauge a personality that is in balance with one's own personality, I think that is something we probably have from birth, or maybe learn as we grow up.

I was taught that wanda is about the personality of a keris and you can only feel it, but I really don't know what it is that makes some keris feel nice and comfortable and like a companion, and others you just want to get back into the wrongko ASAP and put away.

I have no clue at all why we have these different feelings. I guess it might be from an impression formed by the way a keris might look, and then that generates the feeling. Maybe. Or it might be from the feeling you sometimes get when you handle a particular keris.

Anyway, whatever it is, it is personality of the keris, and personality is a characteristic that we cannot see, only feel.

Maybe this "feeling" thing is universal with all living things, have you ever noticed how animals, for example, dogs can be attracted to one person but not another? Obviously the dogs can feel something that is in harmony with their own spirit, and this can vary, dog to dog, & person to person.

Incidentally.

If we look at the dictionary meaning of "wanda" it is the exact opposite of what I was taught and what I have written here.

"wanda" is actually literary language, Kawi, in Kawi it means the body of something (awak) or the form of something (dhapur).

some keris people use "wanda" to refer to the shape of a keris hilt

I do not know why this should be, but what I do know is that the way I have explained it is the way it was understood relative to keris, by the keris elites in Solo during the 1980's & 1990's.

In respect of "pawakan" it is a very commonly used word, it normally refers to a person, and the overall impression of his or her body:- fat, skinny, sexy, lopsided or whatever, however, although I have access to 5 or 6 Javanese dictionaries I can find it in only one of these dictionaries, a fairly recent one, if I ask a native speaker of Javanese in Solo if it is a Javanese or Indonesian word, the response I get is that it is both, but "pawakan" does not appear in Indonesian dictionaries nor Malay.

I sometimes feel that as with a lot of keris words and meanings, my own understandings are decidedly old time Solo, and not necessarily general.

Understood. Thank you Alan. In that case judging personality can be subjective to a certain extent. I guess everything especially art works will have a personality; and keris can also be considered an artwork. Maybe we can get more insights into this from other fellow members.

Maybe not just art works Rasdan.

I have tools that I think have a personality, like cabinet makers chisels that three generations before me have used.

Like a lawn mower that will not start unless I talk to it --- "start ya useless piecea sh*t or you're straight downa tha dump"

Yeah, I think lots of things have a personality, don't forget:- the thread runs through everything in creation.