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Old 20th May 2024, 04:01 PM   #2
David
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Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Nova Scotia
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Hi Ian. The keris is at this point a rather multicultural artifact. As you probably know, it began when Jawa was mostly a Hindu/Buddhist culture. Islam took hold of the region a few centuries later. Most, if not all, of the features that make up the modern keris were fully developed by the end of the Mojopahit era. But the meaning ascribed to these various features did not necessarily transfer to the subsequent Islamic era. Likewise i am not convinced that the intent of these various features remained the same when the keris was then adopted by the Islamic Moro cultures and became the Moro Kris/Kalis. Much of the meaning of the earlier Hindu symbolism of these features has been lost or obscured by time. Which, of course, has not stopped collectors from speculating about it. Certainly we can see possibilities of yoni and lingam symbolism in the pesi and gonjo. We have discussed the connections to the concept of OM to the ron dha. If we think of the sekar kacang as an "elephant trunk" we should be able to make some connections to the concept of Ganesha though other symbolism such as singo, naga and putut can also occupy this space on the gandik. But all these Hindu meanings become even more vague once the culture becomes primarily Islamic. So i am not sure how this will help you to understand the Moro kris better.
As for pusaka keris, as far as i know, there are no requirements for a keris to have any particular arrangement of ricikan for it to qualify as a keris pusaka.
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