Could be a BREAKTROUGH book about Javanese keris in my posession

[Radu Transylvanicus]

Dear fellows,

First of all my apologies for being so late with this news but better later than never. As some of you may remember I was suppose to take a trip to south-east Indonesia. Well I did: Singapore, Bali and Java. Yes I did brought kerises and of course I will show off my two pieces but that’s not the most important thing.
My local friend, which I will call Mr. B., is a member on both of the kratons (palaces) of Surakarta (also known as Solo), the capital and eventually the embryo place of the whole keris culture. Breaking news to me so far is that I managed to obtain a xerox copy of the armory book, hand made and updated from late 1700’s I believe all the way to very late 1800’s.
Its a book of dhapurs and pamors in use by the royal empu’s, mostly kerises but some trisulas and tombaks as well. Does anyone know what I am talking about or have a similar copy of this? It has descriptions in both with Latin characters and Javanese Sanskrit. All handmade nothing printed with machine, true manuscript. Its a very large format book with life size drawings of tons of daggers. Is there anyone else in possession of this book. I went trough hell to get a copy of it and only after days of begging and being a pest, a friend smuggled a copy and made me a copy of his copy...
This might be something of extreme value in people on our circle, is there anyone there that knows what Im talking about?

[Radu Transylvanicus]

Oops, since I havent been here you guys seem to have dedicated a whole new space to the keris , should this be moved there?

[Marcokeris]

I saw a very large format Solo book (copy) in a keris' shop inside big market (pasar Beringhario) in Yogya. It was about tosan aji dapur and written also in old Jawa language. I didn't buy it because it was really too large (not possible to put the copy inside the baggage!!)

[Andrew]

Originally Posted by Radu Transylvanicus

Oops, since I havent been here you guys seem to have dedicated a whole new space to the keris , should this be moved there?

Welcome back.

[Rick]

This sounds pretty exciting Radu !
Can you make it into a PDF file and host it somewhere ?

Welcome back from me also !

Rick
Looking forward to traveler's tales .

[ariel]

Radu, glad to have you back!
Any good Tuika in Sulavesi?
You should have brought some Krises to use them for mititei...

[David]

Welcome back Radu. Glad you had a great trip. I look forward to seeing the keris you bought.
As for this armory book you acquired, i wouldn't go so far as to say it is a breakthrough. These books are known and i'd be willing to bet that a couple of our members even have a versions. It is, however, something i would personally be VERY interested in seeing. If you do have a way of sharing it i am sure that many here would be grateful.
Ariel, it's nice to welcome your friend back, but "You should have brought some Krises to use them for mititei..."???
This is like telling someone that you should have brought some Yad back from Israel to use for shish-kabob. Not exactly a sensitive remark.

[Radu Transylvanicus]

Allright, WHICH ONE OF YOU HAS IT? here is the first page, clearly marked with two dates possibly beginning and ending of creation: 1850 and 1929. Translation please.

[Radu Transylvanicus]

Ariel, if you insist with culinary experiences while there, here to name a few: kalong, sate jamu, frog pooridge, swallow nest soup, sate kobra, lungs jerky, ayam tongseng and of course endless fried plantan but this in another section, lets focus on this book.

[A. G. Maisey]

Yes, I have several copies of this work.About twenty years ago I had a loan of the fullsize original to photocopy and photograph. I have a set of full size photocopies and four albums with large black and white photographs of all the drawings.

Recently Yayasan Damartaji issued a reduced size photocopy book of which I also have a copy. I think this might be available in the KIT bookshop at an utterly ridiculous price--- bear in mind we are talking very inferior quality, Indonesian, photocopies in a binding done by a photocopy shop.Still, even at the silly price it is probably a worthwhile purchase for anybody with a real interest.

Regarding the dates. It was drawn in 1920 by Bapak Sunarya, an abdi dalem of the Surakarta Kraton. I think if you check , you will find that the second date ---5 Ruwah, Jimakir, 1850---should be 1950. Ruwah is the 8th month of the Islamic calendar, Jimakir is the 8th year in a Javanese windu ( 8 year cycle). I think 5 Ruwah 1950 will be found to be 20 April 1920.

[Radu Transylvanicus]

Sounds like case closed...or almost

[David]

Originally Posted by Radu Transylvanicus

... frog pooridge... lungs jerky...

Yummy!!!

[A. G. Maisey]

Anybody who can survive this Javanese warung food has my complete respect. No, more :- admiration.

I`ve been going there for more than 40 years. I have had food poisoning several times, gastric upsets more times than I remember. Nearly every time I go I read of some mass case of food poisoning where people at a party , or factory workers have been poisoned by chicken soup or something; some of these people usually die. Javanese people themselves always seem to be sick with some sort of food induced illness.If not food induced, then its "masuk angin".

My wife went back on Saturday to visit our daughter and grandchildren. She will not ever leave Australia unless she has doxycycline, lomotil, and a whole range of anti-biotics.

In recent years I have refused to eat anything in Solo that has not been prepared in my own kitchen.I'm getting too old to take risks. If I got a real bad dose of food poisoning again, I`d probably go home in a plastic bag.

[Rick]

The origin of Jawa Demam explained at last !

[Naga Sasra]

Very nicely put Rick

Radu Transylvanicus, welcome back we look forward to see what you brought back home with you.

As for the breakthrough book, I am afraid quite a few of us have this booklet as well as the one from Bookstore 'De Verre Volken' that Alan mentioned.

But even though it is not a breakthrough, it is an important document and I congratulate you in being able to optain one. You mentioned its a book of dhapurs and pamors, but the one that you took a picture of the first page of is strictly on dhapurs. Did you also get a book on pamors

Again welcome back, glad you survived the cuisine there.

[Marcokeris]

Other books (amateur publication) that i know about with descriptions in bahasa and in old jawa language too:
"LIMA VERSI / DAPUR KERIS by Soedjarti Brototenojo
"ILMU KERIS - MENURUT SERAT CENHINI by S. Lumintu

only in bahasa:
"NAMA DHAPUR DAN IDENTIFIKASI KERIS DAN TOMBAK" by S. Lumintu

Certainly many others exsist

[Radu Transylvanicus]

I love the warungs (for those not familiar with the term it means "nasty ol shack with English language clueless people that cook in completely unsanitary conditions). For all you overly-cautios folks, I sugest you try some raw spitting-cobra blood with moonshine and I guarantee you no evil spell or food poisoning will touch you. And another suggestion: dont touch the water unless sealed in a bottle. Or just drink soda from a can. I had not even one shot done and I went to the worst places. Half survivor half stupid maybe but my imune system has always been "very Romanian"...

[A. G. Maisey]

Radu, I realise that you are being humourous, but since our Forum is named "Warung Kopi", I thought it best if I corrected your definition of "warung".

A warung is a small shop , or a stall.

In a village or kampung it is a mini-size general store that will sell everything from foodstuffs to tools, and is open from perhaps 5.30am until 9pm, 365 days a year.

Around the markets it can be a mini-shop selling food that you sit on a bench in the street at the front of the shop to eat, or it can be a stall set up on the sidewalk, with table and bench blocking the sidewalk and covered by a tarpaulin.

Along trunk roads it can be a place where you will buy light refreshment .

A warung can take many forms, and as Radu remarks, the food from some can be fairly risky.

In Indonesia people need high educational qualifications before they have any chance of getting any sort of a job. A Master in Pharmacology may, if he is lucky, qualify to be a travelling salesman for a drug company. This means most professionals do not enter the workforce until they are well into their twenties, or even early thirties. Even a factory maintenance worker will be about 20 before he gets a job---if he's lucky.

These people will be forced to retire at age 55, unless they have risen very high on the corporate scale.

Wages in Indonesia are just enough to sustain life, so the combination of a short working life and low wages means that everybody needs more money, all the time.This is not to mention the falling birth rate , which means that one of the traditional means of support in old age often no longer exists. If an Indonesian cannot own a house by age 55 it means that he faces severe insecurity in old age, and probably an early death. There is no social welfare system.

What has this got to do with warungs?

Well, one of the most usual ways for people in Jawa to supplement this low income when employed, and no income on retirement, is to open a warung in a front room of their house. Provided they are in a harmonious relationship with other people in their immediate community, their neighbours will buy from this warung at slightly higher prices than in the market, or will buy their cooked daily food from the warung, rather than cook at home, thus helping to support the owner of the warung.

In many ways, the humble warung can be the life blood of an entire community. In it can also be a place where people from widely varying walks of life come together,leave their position in the wider community at the door, and join discussion to solve the problems of the world over a cup of coffee.

[Radu Transylvanicus]

Youre right maybe I was a little hasty The most beauty of the warungs its the way it brings comunity together and that its the only place outside kraton I could listen to traditional music in Jawa.