Thai equivalent to the keris

Pusaka · 22nd January 2009, 05:08 PM

I recently came back from a trip to Thailand. Whilst there I went to a few antique shops looking for keris. I found a few, the owner had no idea of what they were, all she knew was that she wanted a lot of money for them. I had no intention paying the asking price.

Whilst looking through the shop I seen a knife perhaps 7” long and with a 5 luk wavy blade. It had characters carved into the blade, I have no idea of their meaning. The handle was ivory and carved in the form of a human. It had no scabbard and looked to be fairly old.

I asked the shop owner what the item was and she said the knife is used to protect the owner from evil spirits. It has the same purpose as the keris according to many traditions.

The owner also wanted a very high price for the item so I never bought it. She said the economic situation means she has to rip people off more, not literally but that's what she was getting at

The item is called a mead/meed-morh/mor, I have seen a few recently but the trend is usually that they are much shorter and with a straight blade.

This got me thinking about what other cultures may use knifes to protect the owner in a spiritual way, a spiritual guard dog if you like.

22nd January 2009, 05:08 PM	#1
Pusaka Member Join Date: Nov 2005 Posts: 341	Thai equivalent to the keris I recently came back from a trip to Thailand. Whilst there I went to a few antique shops looking for keris. I found a few, the owner had no idea of what they were, all she knew was that she wanted a lot of money for them. I had no intention paying the asking price. Whilst looking through the shop I seen a knife perhaps 7” long and with a 5 luk wavy blade. It had characters carved into the blade, I have no idea of their meaning. The handle was ivory and carved in the form of a human. It had no scabbard and looked to be fairly old. I asked the shop owner what the item was and she said the knife is used to protect the owner from evil spirits. It has the same purpose as the keris according to many traditions. The owner also wanted a very high price for the item so I never bought it. She said the economic situation means she has to rip people off more, not literally but that's what she was getting at The item is called a mead/meed-morh/mor, I have seen a few recently but the trend is usually that they are much shorter and with a straight blade. This got me thinking about what other cultures may use knifes to protect the owner in a spiritual way, a spiritual guard dog if you like.