Originally Posted by A. G. Maisey
Yes, there were keris with luk in the late pre-Islamic period, but at that time the bladed weapon that we now know as "keris/kris" was something that would have been restricted to the elites.
The "Elites" were the ranking members of kraton society, & the traders who occupied enclaves along the North Coast.
The traders were mostly from India, China & the Middle East, they inter-married with the daughters of the Mojo nobility, and it was higher ranked members of this nobility who controlled Mojo trade, using the foreign traders as their operatives. These traders copied the dress, manners & practices of the Mojo nobles.
These foreigners were for the most part Muslim, & there had been a Muslim presence in the Mojo court for a long time before Brawijaya V was converted at the prompting of his son, Raden Patah, to become Muslim. Raden Patah was the son of a Chinese concubine, and by all accounts a bit of a problem , he seemed to have the idea that he was the rightful heir to the throne, even though his mother was a concubine, not the first wife, or indeed, any wife.
So, palace pressures encouraged Raden Patah to separate from the court & to establish the court of Demak, with himself as Sultan.
Mojo was already coming apart at the seams, too many people wanted to be the Boss of the Bosses, the kraton moved to a few different places, and finally Raden Patah formed a force made up of nobles, traders & warriors from the Muslim enclaves along the North Coast & attacked Mojo.
Once Raden Patah had gained control of Mojo lands, the overall conversion of Jawa to Islam began.
It was mostly a pretty gentle conversion, there was a lot about Islam that was appealing to the common man, and local Muslim leaders gained new members of their settlements by granting land to converts. During this period one of the imperatives was to wash away the memory & practices that had been a part of Mojo.
In this period, when all men were equal before God, the keris became a weapon of anybody who could afford one, & at the same time, there was a consistent pressure to change the nature of the keris.
The keris morphed into an icon of society & gained much of its present character, a character which is quite a bit different to what it was in the Mojo era.
With these changes the luk of the keris no longer were associated with societal position, but gained a talismanic function, as did the keris itself.
It would have been after the adoption of the keris by society in general that the smaller, more easily carried form of keris came into being as a personal talisman.
It is widely believed that the keris sajen is a part of the Bersih Desa ceremony. I have seen this ceremony in a number of places in Central Jawa & I have never seen, nor been aware of, the use of a keris sajen in the ceremony. Similarly, I have spoken with Javanese people who were knowledgeable in the practice of various ceremonies, and none of these people have definitely committed to knowledge of the keris sajen being used in Bersih Desa.
However, I have known a number of people, both men & women who have had keris sajen, keris sombro & other small keris as their personal talismans.
|