Pamor Questions

[Karttikeya]

Dear all, I have some questions regarding intention of pamor making. I have attached a photo of keris Mahesa Lajer with pamor Kul Buntet (or probably there is another suitable name for this kind of pamor) but you may see the center of its pamor there is an object black circle which have made me wonder whether this is what we call pamor tambal or probably kandas wojo. The maker seems intentionally set this pamor tambal out in the center of Kul buntet for specific purpose. Anybody have ever seen this kind of pamor?

[Richard Furrer]

It appears to be a portion of the Ganja has been cut off early in forging and welded in the center of the pattern.
What is on the other side..I assume something different and this is a single sided pattern.

I have seen human figures (some very well done and others you had to hold your head just so and squint to envision them)

Of all the cultural pattern-welding I have seen..those associated with the keris are the most creative.
Ric

[Richard Furrer]

sorry...your question of it being intentional...yes, very much so.

Ric

[A. G. Maisey]

I'm not nearly as certain as Richard that this observed result is intentional.

If it is a plug that goes right through the blade, there are a number of reasons to explain why this might have been done, and there is no way that we can know at this remove what the reason was. It could be to hide a flaw, it could be to incorporate a part of an older blade into this one, it could be for some esoteric reason, it could be for some reason that we would not even think of now.

If it is a patch, rather than a plug, a similar reason could apply as for the use of a plug. However, it could be an exposure of the core, and the only way I personally could be certain of that would be by examination under magnification. From a photo I simply cannot tell.

Usual keris production technique is that prior to welding the core into a blade, a length of pamor material is cut which provides the bakalan used to forge the gonjo, so the gonjo material is in fact the same as the pamor material in the blade. It is extremely unusual for a gonjo to be made of different material to the material that forms the outer faces of the blade.
Usually when a gonjo is of different material to the blade material, it is because the gonjo has been replaced, or because a plain black gonjo is required. Where a gonjo is of pamor material, that material will be expected to be the same as the pamor material in the blade.

[Karttikeya]

Thank you for your explanation, gentlemen. For your information, other side of the blade is about the same thing with whether a patch of plug inserted into the blade however the shape is not nicely round but looks more like rhombus. The people here call it as tambal "ceblokan", sorry Richard I do not know how to translate ceblokan in Englsih, I also do not know yet what is the definition of ceblokan. Pak Alan probably can help us to provide definition of ceblokan term. To my eye, this is unusual pamor Kul Buntet with a patch or plug in the centre of the pattern.

[A. G. Maisey]

Actually, the word is "ceplokan".

"ceplok" is a fried egg, or a circular mark.

When we say pamor is "pamor ceplok", or "pamor ceplokan" it must be a patch-type pamor:- pamor tambal, where a patch of material is applied to the surface.

If this mark is the result of a plug being inserted, it really should not be called "ceplokan".

The word "ceblok" means to fall, or to drop.

Of course, they both sound very similar if spoken, and it is easy to confuse spelling, which with Javanese is not all that important anyway, what is important is the way a word sounds, and the context. In the context of pamor, it is "ceplok"

[Karttikeya]

Pak Alan, I do not think that the world is "ceplokan". I have quoted from one reference "There is also titipan pamor or ceblokan pamor, ie pamor which is added later, after the keris is 90% finished". I actually have never heard pamor ceplokan before but I do know the meaning of ceplokan, it is usually used to call telur ceplok. My question is what makes it different from common pamor tambal (no additional ceblokan).

[David]

Originally Posted by Karttikeya

I have quoted from one reference "There is also titipan pamor or ceblokan pamor, ie pamor which is added later, after the keris is 90% finished".

Karttikeya, could you please give us the source (name) of your reference?

[A. G. Maisey]

Thank you for your comment Karttikeya.

I guess I'd better let the people I know in Jawa and Madura who have explained pamor ceplok to me that they're wrong.

The first time it was explained to me was perhaps 30 years ago, and the person who explained it was a dealer in Pasar Turi in Surabaya. He likened it to a fried egg. Nobody since then has disagreed with this.

But they could all be wrong. Even Karaton empus don't know everything.

In any case, it’s a pretty simple choice, both ceplok and ceblok are Javanese words, one means "a round mark", or "fried egg", the other means "to drop".
Take your pick. Think about what the pamor looks like and then decide what is its correct name. Ceblok is a verb. Ceplok can be an adjective or a noun.

Javanese is primarily a spoken language ( as opposed to Kawi, which is primarily a written language). It is what linguists refer to as an"un-standardized language" . Vowels are pretty much interchangeable at the whim of the speaker, consonants are very often difficult to differentiate:- "t" and "d" sound the same, "p" and "b" sound the same, and there are other consonants that either sound the same or are changed at the whim of the user.

The difficulty comes when the original script is romanised and the spelling needs to fit into a European thought pattern.

There is one thing that we need to understand when we are considering any printed reference for keris:- even if that reference was produced by a Javanese person who really did understand keris, if it was written in Roman text whatever is written needs to be understood against the background of common usage, and in context. If one does not live in Javanese society, this background and the necessary experience to understand what is written does not exist.

Now, to address your specific question Karttikeya.

You say you understand what pamor tambal is. OK.

Now think about this:- although pamor tambal is most often roundish in form, it need not necessarily be so. It is just a patch of material that has been stuck onto the face of a blade, as such it can be any shape, and it is still pamor tambal provided that it has been applied to the face of the blade.
Pamor ceplok refers to the shape of the pamor, not to the method which produced it:- it can be produced by pamor manipulation, surface manipulation, or as a tambal.

Ceplok is form. Tambal is technique.

If this black patch on your keris is a plug, quite frankly I don't know what to call it, because it is no longer pamor:- it penetrates and forms a part of the blade.

Something that just occurred to me:- there is a timoho pattern that is also known as ceplok, and it has the same characteristics as the pamor that I know as ceplok, that is, circular markings, like blobs of black paint on the wood.One of the well known keris books has this in it somewhere, but I don't have time to go looking.