Alan,
You have written here that there is a specific, perhaps spiritual, "sense" about a keris that the most learned of keris experts can achieve. This "sense" is highly subjective, and may vary from individual to individual regarding a particular keris. Your stories about one of the keris in your possession and the reactions of two individuals with particular "spiritual" gifts raises some interesting cross-cultural similarities with other Malay cultures (defined broadly). I don't wish to sidetrack this thread with discussion of Moro beliefs around spirits (gin) that inhabit their weapons and create spiritual personas for them, but have two specific questions for you about your Indonesian experience.
Does the principle of wanda in a general sense apply to any other Indonesian weapons or just to the keris? Could one of the spiritually gifted individuals you described pick up a parang or pedang and feel a similar spiritual experience, or is this just confined to the keris in Indonesian culture?
Regard,
Ian
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