Coyness in posting keris pics

A. G. Maisey · 8th January 2023, 07:42 PM

Keris, tombak and other items of tosan aji are regarded as having protective qualities.

When they are on display in a traditional Javanese home they are usually put in a strategic position that the people living in that home believe will protect the home & themselves from evil.

Blawongs were & are wall decorations, sometimes intended just as a decoration, like a painting or framed picture, sometimes because the people living in the house regard the blawong& its motif as protective. This is very much the case in rural Central Jawa.

Somewhere along the way people started to combine the protective qualities of the blawong with the protective qualities of the keris. Blawongs were not originally intended to display keris.

As for the ploncon/jagrak, Sid is dead right when he says that display of keris dress is totally different to display of the keris itself. There can be a number of reasons why easily reachable keris could be considered a good idea.

For instance, let's say you are a Javanese gentleman dressed in full traditional attire, you're on your way to a wedding, or a party or some other event, you call in to have a yarn with your mate along the way.

It is not possible to sit comfortably in a normal lounge chair with a wangkingan stuck in the back of your setagen, so you remove it, then what do you do with it?

If your mate has a ploncon in his front room, you put the keris into that, and when you're leaving you turn it into a wangkingan again.

Then we have dealers:- they need some way to display what they are selling. Keris dress is fragile, a ploncon helps to prevent damage.

What I've written relates to Javanese keris, but what about the little statues that are used to hold Balinese keris?

These were originally placed on the front verandah next to the front door, a visitor placed his keris into the holder when entered the house or sat.

8th January 2023, 07:42 PM	#32
A. G. Maisey Member Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 6,989	Keris, tombak and other items of tosan aji are regarded as having protective qualities. When they are on display in a traditional Javanese home they are usually put in a strategic position that the people living in that home believe will protect the home & themselves from evil. Blawongs were & are wall decorations, sometimes intended just as a decoration, like a painting or framed picture, sometimes because the people living in the house regard the blawong& its motif as protective. This is very much the case in rural Central Jawa. Somewhere along the way people started to combine the protective qualities of the blawong with the protective qualities of the keris. Blawongs were not originally intended to display keris. As for the ploncon/jagrak, Sid is dead right when he says that display of keris dress is totally different to display of the keris itself. There can be a number of reasons why easily reachable keris could be considered a good idea. For instance, let's say you are a Javanese gentleman dressed in full traditional attire, you're on your way to a wedding, or a party or some other event, you call in to have a yarn with your mate along the way. It is not possible to sit comfortably in a normal lounge chair with a wangkingan stuck in the back of your setagen, so you remove it, then what do you do with it? If your mate has a ploncon in his front room, you put the keris into that, and when you're leaving you turn it into a wangkingan again. Then we have dealers:- they need some way to display what they are selling. Keris dress is fragile, a ploncon helps to prevent damage. What I've written relates to Javanese keris, but what about the little statues that are used to hold Balinese keris? These were originally placed on the front verandah next to the front door, a visitor placed his keris into the holder when entered the house or sat.