The Kingdom.

[A. G. Maisey]

This is not a post about keris.

At least, it may not appear to be a post about keris.

When left school I went to work for a very large government organisation. It was an engineering based organisation with over twelve thousand people. This was the 1950's. In those days organisations such as the one I joined were structured like minor kingdoms. At the top we had the General Manager. The King. Gifted with infallibility, there for life, and with the power of life and death over everybody in his kingdom.

I gained employment as a junior clerk. This was one step up from the bottom. On the bottom rung of the organisation we had the "clearance kids", whose job it was to move from one office to another, the masses of documents that made the Kingdom function.

Eventually these documents finished up in the File Office where I, and other junior clerks like me, sorted and classified these documents, and placed them in pigeon holes and folders according to the classification of the document.

Actually, for a 16 year old, it was a pretty important and enthralling job. I got to handle all of the pieces of paper that made the organisation function. I was frequently and forcefully made aware of the fact that if I failed in my duties of correct classification and placement of one of those documents, I could bring the entire Kingdom to its knees. I think I probably believed that if I allowed this to happen I would be taken down into the basement and shot.

Well, I didn't screw up, I classified and placed all those documents correctly for a year or so, and over time I was given ever more responsible positions within the organisation.As I moved up through my organisation I came to learn about and understand the duties and functions of all of the other people who worked in this minor kingdom.

There were the senior clerks who busily shuffled documents all day long, and moved them from one tray on their desk to another. They didn't really understand what the documents were all about, but they knew how to identify and extract a piece of information from a document and put that piece of information somewhere else, where it could be used to produce even more documents.

There were the accountants. They sat at their desks all day looking worried, calculating interminably, and working out how much money the King had in his treasury, and how to increase that amount of money. The accountants were able to put a value on everything.

There were the Engineers. Everybody was very wary of the Engineers.

You never, ever addressed an Engineer by his first name:- you always gave him his full and correct title. You were overly respectful towards all Engineers, and if one happened to unexpectedly cross your path, you immediately fell to your knees and touched your forehead to the floor until he had passed.

You see, the General Manager, His Highness, The King, was selected from the ranks of the Engineers. Effectively the Engineers were Dukes, Earls and Barons. Offend an Engineer and there was no telling what might befall you. At the very least you could grow old and grey and never move from the desk at which you were currently situated.

Now, we all knew that the Engineers deserved this extreme respect, because the Engineers KNEW. They Knew everything, most especially they knew how things worked. The Engineers were the Creators. Every document that kept the Kingdom afloat on a sea of paper had at its source, an Engineer. It was simple:- no Engineers:- no documents. No documents:- no organisation. No organisation:- no job.

Hidden away in a dusty little office on the top floor there were some people that nobody spoke of. If it was absolutely necessary to say the name of these people you looked around to see that nobody was listening, then you whispered it as an abbreviation:- The IA.

I remember I had to go into that office once when I had only just started work. Piles and piles of documents. You couldn't see the people there---they were all hidden behind piles of documents. They all looked like either gangsters or policemen. These were not nice people.

Everybody in the organisation was very, very careful of what they said in front of these people. Even the Engineers were polite to them.

Most importantly, any document, any record, any report that existed anywhere in the organisation could be accessed by these people. Nobody could refuse them anything they asked for.

Only His Highness, the General Manager stood above these people, and even His Highness was not safe from them, because in some circumstances they could bypass the General Manager and go directly to the Premier of the State. God.

These people were the Internal Auditors.

They gained their power from the fact that they knew everything about everything within the organisation. Nothing was secret from them. They probed into every little nook and cranny and they asked questions about things that other people did not even know existed.
They spent their days probing, questioning, researching, thinking, recording and being incredibly difficult whenever they interviewed anybody.

Nobody loved the Internal Auditors. But the fact of the matter was that the Internal Auditors as a group knew more about the organisation than anybody else in the organisation. They even knew more than His Highness, the General Manager.

Most especially, they understood perfectly the documents that made the organisation function.

So, this organisation was made up of "clearance kids" who shifted documents from one place to another; junior clerks who classified and filed the documents; senior clerks who played with the documents; accountants who calculated what the documents were worth; Engineers who generated the documents; the General Manager who didn't seem to do too much of anything except go to lunches and be driven around in an expensive automobile; and the Internal Auditors who knew how to interpret the meaning of every document that held the organisation together.

Now, while I was lingering over breakfast this morning, seeing how long I could make my coffee last, and watching the pelicans paddling past my shoreline, it occurred to me that the world of keris collecting and study is very similar to the organisation that I used to work in. If this is so, perhaps we could ask ourselves where we would like to fit into that Kingdom of the Keris.

[Montino Bourbon]

I started my study of music in 1967, and there was "The Guru", who in this case was Ustad Ali Akbar Khan, considered then, as now, to be the greatest musician of India: Other teachers; The "Advanced Students", and lastly (VERY lastly) beginners such as myself.

I stayed in that organization studying, and later teaching, for twelve years, and it was an amazing experience. At one point Khan-Sahib, as AAK was addressed, was asked by his father, Ustad Allauddin Khan (Who also was the teacher of such luminaries as Nikhil Bannerjee, one of the greatest sitarists in the world, as well as the very well-known Pandit Ravi Shankar) if he had accepted any of us as initiated disciples, he replied in the affirmative. His father then told him, "Teach them EVERYTHING!"

A very interesting experience indeed. I am sure that the esoteric aspects of that course of study are as arcane as the study of keris, in which I consider myself a fairly well-informed beginner.

[David]

Well, i feel like a junior clerk most of the time, but when i grow up i think i would probably most like to be a...(looks around, drops voice...) an IA....
That is since the job of God is already taken...

[drdavid]

At this stage I think I qualify as a uni student with a holiday job helping the clearance kids
DrD

[Rick]

Personally speaking , I'm special needs .
Gotta go catch the short bus now ..

[A. G. Maisey]

Gentlemen, with the possible exception of David, I think that perhaps you may be missing the point I was trying to make.

As serious students and collectors of the keris, is it fitting that we devote so much of our discussion time to the classification of keris, and to the affixation of names to various design components?

If the study of the keris is limited to the compilation of an encyclopaedic list of motifs and names, what exactly has that list of words produced as an addition to knowledge?

Those of you who are well acquainted with me will have heard me railing against the "name game" on occasion.

Why?

Why am I so out of step with the bulk of collectors of keris---or anything else, for that matter?

Surely the naming and classification of those things we collect is at the very heart of our interest. Is it not?

Yes, of course it is. If we wish to retain the status of junior clerks forever:- classify it, give it a name, give it an origin, give it a collection number, record it, file it.

I ask you:- is that serious study of an object that is at the very heart of an entire culture?

However, if we wish to learn something about what it is that we have an interest in, if we wish to understand the nature of that which we have an interest in, then we need to extend our study into all of those areas of knowledge that can add to our knowledge of the thing in which we have an interest. If we do not wish to learn, then we might just as well collect postage stamps. Or better yet, Shrek memorabilia.

We have chosen to collect and to study an object that is perhaps the most complex cultural icon in existence.

Something that is worthy of the most intense study, research and mental effort that the human mind can bring to bear on it.

But if we review the content of posts to our discussion group, how often do we come across evidence that we are thinking beyond the mere classification of something?

I think that possibly only one time during the period I have taken an interest in this discussion group have I seen evidence that somebody was really thinking outside the square. I've forgotten the name of the person involved, and I think it was prior to the Warung opening up for business, a thinker put forth the proposition that the ron dha really represented the Hindu "OM". Brilliant thought process. At the moment I do not agree with him, but the thought process that produced this idea is exactly what we need to see more of.

The names of various design motifs, be they forms of the naga, be they dapurs, be they pamors, are only of value if accompanied by attribution of source and time, and even then they are only descriptors. In some of the older forms these descriptors may be able to be subjected to analysis in attempts to extract origin and possible original meaning of the name applied, but for the most part, even that approach could be like chasing rainbows.

The choice is ours:- accumulate objects that we do not understand, or try to gain some understanding of the forces that have produced an icon that can incorporate the highest societal, religious, and artistic ideals of a culture.

[ferrylaki]

Originally Posted by A. G. Maisey

Gentlemen, with the possible exception of David, I think that perhaps you may be missing the point I was trying to make.

As serious students and collectors of the keris, is it fitting that we devote so much of our discussion time to the classification of keris, and to the affixation of names to various design components?

If the study of the keris is limited to the compilation of an encyclopaedic list of motifs and names, what exactly has that list of words produced as an addition to knowledge?

Those of you who are well acquainted with me will have heard me railing against the "name game" on occasion.

Why?

Why am I so out of step with the bulk of collectors of keris---or anything else, for that matter?

Surely the naming and classification of those things we collect is at the very heart of our interest. Is it not?

Yes, of course it is. If we wish to retain the status of junior clerks forever:- classify it, give it a name, give it an origin, give it a collection number, record it, file it.

I ask you:- is that serious study of an object that is at the very heart of an entire culture?

However, if we wish to learn something about what it is that we have an interest in, if we wish to understand the nature of that which we have an interest in, then we need to extend our study into all of those areas of knowledge that can add to our knowledge of the thing in which we have an interest. If we do not wish to learn, then we might just as well collect postage stamps. Or better yet, Shrek memorabilia.

We have chosen to collect and to study an object that is perhaps the most complex cultural icon in existence.

Something that is worthy of the most intense study, research and mental effort that the human mind can bring to bear on it.

But if we review the content of posts to our discussion group, how often do we come across evidence that we are thinking beyond the mere classification of something?

I think that possibly only one time during the period I have taken an interest in this discussion group have I seen evidence that somebody was really thinking outside the square. I've forgotten the name of the person involved, and I think it was prior to the Warung opening up for business, a thinker put forth the proposition that the ron dha really represented the Hindu "OM". Brilliant thought process. At the moment I do not agree with him, but the thought process that produced this idea is exactly what we need to see more of.

The names of various design motifs, be they forms of the naga, be they dapurs, be they pamors, are only of value if accompanied by attribution of source and time, and even then they are only descriptors. In some of the older forms these descriptors may be able to be subjected to analysis in attempts to extract origin and possible original meaning of the name applied, but for the most part, even that approach could be like chasing rainbows.

The choice is ours:- accumulate objects that we do not understand, or try to gain some understanding of the forces that have produced an icon that can incorporate the highest societal, religious, and artistic ideals of a culture.

It is always a pleasure to read your threat Alan. For me as a javanese, collecting kerises is like an efford to realize that " I am A Javanese".
though in my 27 years old I still consider my self as a clearance kid. Trying to understand about dapur, pamor, warangka, etc....and after a while I will consider my self as a junior clerk..and move on to the next level.

I was once forgoten to be a Javanese, since my family doesn't seem to teach me about javanese tradition, all I understand is, I was born in Solo central Java and my parents are a common civilian came from Demak Central Java.

One day my grandfaher died, and he inheritaged a spear and a keris to his sons and doughters, then the story told me that one of my uncle try to sell the keris to anyone interrested on it. Since he doesn't know anything about keris, then he found him self confuse with no direction to make. from demak to other city and then end up in Solo to my mother. My mom gave him 20.000 rupiah as a mahar and told my uncle to go home. about the spear, my mom just bring it back from Demak.

I was never ever tuoch the keris until I was 25 years old. When I first time tuoch it, unshealth it, smell it's sandallwood aroma. looked at the detail of the keris and spear...then I found that I'm not a complete Javanese without having a keris, further I'm not a complete Javanese without knowing about keris. the metal, the technique of keris making, the tradition, ang the filosofy within the keris.

I found that old javanese people I used to talk with were very polite, honest, low profile . They knew exactly where to put them self in any situation. those wise words came out of their mouth came to my ears as melody and just went through my brain and my heart. I was so amazed.

You've been living in Solo for a very long time Alan. You know exactly what I mean. I miss the old Java that you told me about. when the road are still empty, when the market not so crouwded. when the people are not obsessed with materiality.

Then now I feel more better, after I bought my first and second kerises then a bought the book ' ensiklopedia keris' and ' keris antara mistik dan nalar'
then I still look for other book to read and other keris to learn about,l collect another keris and sword...I found my self happy with it.

thanks guys ...

[BluErf]

Which is why esteemed members like youself, Alan, and pak Ganjawulung, Boedhi Adhitya and others whose names may have slipped my increasingly forgetful mind, are especially valuable to and honoured in this forum.