Rajah Kalacakra Keris

[Sajen]

Originally Posted by satsujinken

this particular blade got additional kinatah during its lifetime - I only seen another keris like this, called Rajah Kalacakra


the story goes that the owner got his keris as heritage from his grandfather, who got it from his grandfather. The said keris was born plain, but since his great great grandfather fought well in a battle against the foreigner, the Sultan requested that his keris were carved with scorpions and decorated with gold as symbol of bravery and citation from the king (kinda like medal of honor, I presume)

Hello Donny,

you suggest that this blade is very old, is there any proof for this? And when it is a worthy blade why it's fitted which such a poor mendak and like it seems also poor hilt? To my eyes this blade look rather recent, like always I could be wrong!

Salam,
Detlef

[David]

Alan, thank for clearing up issues surrounding the name or names being used to describe this symbol. Since it was presented as a single word (kalacakra) that is how i researched it.
I suspect that the translations you have supplied are correct, though when i search for this word(s) in both Javanese and Bahasa Indonesian (though Javanese is certainly more appropriate for these names, i know) i get virtually the same result. "Kala" is translated as "time" and "cakra" as disc (which, of course, the sun is from our perspective). Of course i do suppose i could see how "Time Disc" could be interpreted as the sun. I don't write this to argue your own translations, merely to point out the reasons for my confusion.

[David]

Originally Posted by Sajen

Hello Donny,

you suggest that this blade is very old, is there any proof for this? And when it is a worthy blade why it's fitted which such a poor mendak and like it seems also poor hilt? To my eyes this blade look rather recent, like always I could be wrong!

Salam,
Detlef

Detlef, i agree, i too am having some difficulty seeing this keris as being very old. I would think that tracing it back to anybody's great great grandfather would place it at least to mid 19th. I'm not convinced it is quite that old. I am not sure how long the scorpion motif has been used in Jawa given Alan's suggestion that it can't be found in early or even late Classical Periods, but the example that van Duuren cites is at least pre-WWII. I would love to see some examples of it that are clearly 19th C, but have yet to come across them. Even if this keris has some age i certainly would not place it anywhere near as old as Late Classical period though. Of course, as i have mentioned before, i have seen numerous contemporary keris that have also placed this motif on blades for an added buyer's incentive. It is an interesting keris though. As the old adage goes though, but the keris, not the story. Frankly i find the tambal pamor at the tip of the blade far more interesting than the scorpion kinatah.

[mariusgmioc]

I guess I don't have to say again that I am a novice in terms of knowledge, but...

... to me this Kris looks very new.



PS: And in the end what is more important, the Kris or the story?!

[A. G. Maisey]

David, yeah, the word was presented as one word in the initial post, so its reasonable that this is the way anybody would start to look for it.

Malay (B.I) and Javanese are like other languages in that a word meaning very often depends on context.When I check my dictionaries I find this:-

In Javanese "kala" can mean:- time, season, last, past, a bird trapping noose on a long handle, a stinging animal. It also forms compounds with other words, as the first syllable, for example --- kalacakra : The Sun

In B.I."kala" can mean:- time, period, era, age, tense (gram.), scorpion, Scorpio, mare. Again, there are compounds.

In Balinese:- time, when, while, ogre, demon,Shiva. Again, there are compounds.

Cakra
In Javanese "Cakra" can mean:- a round frame, a mythical arrow, a diacritic mark indicating "R" in Javanese script. + compound words.

In B.I.:- Vishnu's mythical weapon

In Balinese:- wheel, circle, Shiva's weapon, the sign for conjunct "R" after a consonant, vulva,. + compound words

In Old Javanese cakra can mean :- wheel, discus, a type of duck

In Old Javanese kala can mean:- evil, contemptible, dishonest, fraudulent, deceitful, a type of trumpet, scorpion,. There are also compound words, and the same word stressed in different ways, in fact in Zoetmulder there are a couple of columns devoted to "kala" and its associated words.

All the stuff above was lifted from dictionaries, but only one for each language. I believe that if I referred to my other Javanese dictionaries I would find more meanings.

[satsujinken]

I do agree that the keris looked new, I suspect kamardikan

however it's refreshing to read all of your comments, it opened a new horizon for me

many thanks

Donny