Looking for beginners guide to Keris

[David]

Originally Posted by awdaniec666

Hi A.G., Hi Milandro,

thank you for replying!

- The Site is mainly about edged weapons and I will implement noswonogus too (not swords and not guns, like axes and spears).
- A list of links is probably something for forums like this one. I made the Glad primarily because I love to write.
- I personally will not research Keris swords, and wonÂ’t write about them. I am looking for somebody who knows about the topic and likes to write something basic for readers with different interests than Keris.
- Thanks for the sources. I will check them.

Such articles are ideal for people who are just curious what a certain topic offers but do not intend to collect those swords and spend hours into research. ItÂ’s supposed to be an excourse, a glimpse over the edge. I was once asked if we pay our authors - the whole project is being resized in our free time and is not even non-profit, but non-financial, we practically loose money by making everything available for free and like to write and share knowledge. But we cannot cover every type of swords on earth with our small team. Maybe I wasnÂ’t clear enough

I willl say this in regards to what you are looking for. For many years there has been quite a bit of questionable or even straight out false information circulated about keris, some online and some in books which were accepted collector guides for decades. Some incorrect informations seems to be constantly recirculated from older texts and dealers love to use unsubstantiated stories about keris to increase the intrigue surrounding the stock that they are selling. At the same time it should be understood that the keris is many things to many people and coming to concise conclusions on certain aspects of this cultural icon can be quite impossible at times. In this way it is quite unlike any other edged weapon i am aware of. So before you post an article on your site i would suggest that you vet it well in various forums to avoid adding to the noise of misinformation that has followed the study of keris for many years. It is a very complicated subject and difficult at best to sumarize in a short basic article. Best of luck to you!

[A. G. Maisey]

David, what you have written here is, I believe, very true. I think of the matter itself as being a bit of a Catch 22 situation:-

there is a tremendous quantity of information about keris (& other things) available on the net, but you need to already be an expert to be able to separate the gold from the clay.

If one were to put in 20 or 30 years or so of dedicated study & research from traditional sources and then to tackle the net & the hodge-podge of ignorance, misinformation & just plain lies that we find there, then that person might be able to have some sort of understanding of the subject.

If one is already educated in the subject of keris, then the net can become a very valuable resource, if one is still in kindergarten, well, I reckon one is likely to drown before graduation day.

That is where a Forum such a this one can really help, at its best this Forum can help clarify understandings and show a path forward for both the dedicated & casual student.

As for a simple primer on keris, I personally like David van Duuren's "The Kris", maybe somebody might like to compress this into a 5K word essay?

Then we have two really valuable printed books, bibliographies, one by Timothy Rogers, one by David van Duuren. They seldom get mentioned, but these two books are a truly invaluable resource for any serious student of the keris, or in Timothy's case, any serious student of the weaponry of the Malay World.

But to return to the subject of Patrick's invitation. I think that this new initiative that he has drawn our attention to could perhaps provide a place for publication of writings in the field, however, unless provision were to be made for review & commentary on those writings, then there could be a danger of more misleading information becoming available that could perhaps add to an already confusing environment.

[Pendita65]

Dear Mr. Maisey,

can i ask for the complete titel of the book by Timothy Rogers i was unable to find it on the internet.

Regards, Martin

[awdaniec666]

Dear David, Dear A.G,

thanks again. Your comments slowly shed light on the nature of this topic for me.

I´ll just leave this invitation here - if there will be somebody one day to write an essay about the Keris - he or she is very much invited to get in touch. The Gladiological is always open for articles of this kind.

One of you said something very important: The review of articles. This is a difficult thing to accomplish when a "exotic" topic shall be released and there is nobody in the editorial team to check things for correctness. In this case we must rely on readers´feedback and publish either a corrected version of the original article or publish the feedbacks. Either way, the possibility of commenting below articles on our website is there - it just needs to be used much more

[awdaniec666]

And thank you milandro for that hint! Saw it afterwards.

[A. G. Maisey]

Martin:-

"An annotated bibliography of Indonesian, Filipino & Malay Edged Weapons"
T. D. Rogers, C Zwartenkop Art Books -- Leiden, 2015, ISBN/EAN 978-90-5450-014-8

This is a truly excellent & truly valuable reference source, as the title implies, it is not just a list of books, in incorporates other printed matter & provides a brief commentary on each item listed.

Timothy was a librarian working at the Bodleian library in Oxford, I think his title was "Librarian in Charge of Medieval Manuscripts", his work is meticulous & impeccable, this book took him many years to write.

[Pendita65]

Mr. Maisey,

thank you so much for the info, will have a look at the book next time when i am at the Wereldmuseum Leiden.

Regards, Martin