Rerajahan soul of the keris

[A. G. Maisey]

David, regarding the two manuscripts mentioned by Basuki Yuwono, the Dharma Kepandean can be bought, by the look of things.

I'm going to try to chase it up next time I'm in Bali, in a few weeks time, but this link will take you to an online source:-

https://www.tokopedia.com/mbukubali/...?m_id=11966039

The other text, Rerajahan Keris, I really cannot find except related to Basuki, he apparently knows of it, maybe he even wrote it, a naskah does not need to be a old manuscript, just an original one. Maybe one day we'll be able to read it. I'll be in Solo too in a few weeks, so I'll ask around. If it does exist I feel I might be looking at another little primer, rather than an academic translation and examination of a lontar.

Incidentally, on the subject of lontars. These are inscriptions on strips of palm leaf. Because of their nature and the way in which they deteriorate in a tropical climate, they needed to be constantly re-transcribed to new palm leaves. The most recent version of the text of a lontar could well be a couple of hundred years old, but might have been transcribed a few times since it was originally written. Because different scribes transcribed the same original, and later versions, of lontars at different times, the most recent version of a lontar can show additions and alterations to the original. In short, what we find in the romanised translation of a lontar originally written in, say, the 14th century, might be somewhat different to the original.

[David]

Originally Posted by A. G. Maisey

David, regarding the two manuscripts mentioned by Basuki Yuwono, the Dharma Kepandean can be bought, by the look of things.

Well then, should be easier to find that the Grail i suppose! LOL!

[Pusaka]

David, thank you for your latest and most estrogen charged response thus far!

My reason for believing that Rerajahan are part of keris construction is because I have both read AND been told multiple times! Such information is even casually mentioned such as:

"The selected metals are inscribed with rerajahan
(magical symbols) before they are processed.
Every work step is accompanied by mantras
(incantations) and sacrifices. An auspicious day
is chosen for the basupati, the awakening ceremony
for the finished blade."

pg48 The Gods and the Forge


"He explained, the first factor was the selection and method of obtaining the raw materials obtained by conducting semedi. Secondly, it relates to the selection of a good or two-day day when starting work, followed by an offering ceremony and a prayer for mutual safety. Both for the creator and the person who uses it later.


While the third factor, continued the former male English language teacher, the element of entering the rerajahan, puja mantra according to what was expected. After completing, he continued, then entered or often called the Pasupati on the chosen day, and the ceremony must also be in accordance with the needs of the keris. "The last is the maintenance of physical and non-physical keris for sustainability," explained
a painting collector who is also an observer of art."

https://baliexpress.jawapos.com/read...ga-taksu-keris

[A. G. Maisey]

Darren, there are a couple of things that possibly need some clarification.

I understand that the quote from the Ificah publication refers to Bali, in Bali rajahan are used as a part of everyday life and in many applications, so if a particular smith wishes to use them in the making of a keris, that should not surprise us, but if he does, any marks made on the metal used will disappear with the first heat in the forge.

Prior to Dietrich Drescher's kick-start of the Keris Revival in Central Jawa, there was somewhere between no keris manufacture and very little keris manufacture anywhere in Indonesia. That revival commenced in the first half of the 1970's, I was in Solo, on and off, during the entire period of the revival, I saw it happening.

In Bali, the revival of the keris started a bit later, all through the 1970's and 1980's nothing was happening, I think that probably the first Balinese keris of the modern era was made by Mangku Pande Made Wija in about 1983 or 1984. This keris was made as an order for Dietrich Drescher, I handled it when I visited Mangku Pande Made Wija just after the completion of the keris. As far as I am aware he only made this one keris for Mr. Drescher, when I spoke with him at a later time he told me that he could make a much better living by producing ceremonial axes and ordinary tools than he could ever make from producing keris.

In the period following the puputans the Balinese people lost faith in both their rulers and seemingly the ability of their Gods and Ancestors to protect them against the evil forces of this world. It is told how when faced with the attacking Dutch forces, the Raja of Klungkung struck the earth with his keris and called upon his Ancestors to open the earth and swallow the Dutch aggressors. This did not happen, so the Klungkung Court took this as an indication that it was time for the present era to end, and they embarked upon puputan.

From about 1974 through to about the mid-1990's I searched consistently for people in Bali with Balinese understanding of keris. I could find none, even though I had better sources than most other people. I met a pande in Blahbatu in the mid-1990's who had begun to forge keris, and after that it seemed as if keris interest in Bali began to rise again, but during the period of about 1974 to 1993 keris knowledge in Bali was very difficult to uncover, and it seems as if there had been no person to person transmission of knowledge since well before WWII.

Now we have in Bali a blossoming of pandes who are turning out keris, and keris authorities who seem to have materialised out of nowhere.

I sometimes wonder just exactly where the current Bali keris knowledge has come from. I'm inclined to believe much of the current keris knowledge has come from divine sources, and been delivered in the form of dreams.

Now, I know personally a couple of Balinese pande, I have known very well the two most prominent Javanese empu of the post 1980 period, I use the past tense because both have now passed. I know personally a number of other Javanese pande keris and keris craftsmen. I have worked with some of these people.

In Jawa and Bali that which a casual enquirer is permitted to see, and what he is told, is nearly always different to reality. It gets back to the "club" idea that I have previously mentioned, this, combined with the well known propensity of both Javanese and Balinese people to provide responses to questions in the form of an answer that they believe will please you means that most things that we read in books or reports written by outsiders about matters to do with Jawa and Bali must be taken only as possibilities, not realities. Read Margaret Wiener's "Visible & Invisible Realms" and consider what this Professor of Anthropology needed to do in order to complete her field work, consider her own doubts about some of the information she was given.

In fact, this characteristic of questionable "keris knowledge" is not limited to Jawa and Bali, it permeates the entire bank of keris knowledge, but the quantity of questionable belief and knowledge that has been generated since about 1990 seems to have grown exponentially.

In other words, don't believe everything you read.

[David]

Originally Posted by Pusaka

"The selected metals are inscribed with rerajahan
(magical symbols) before they are processed.
Every work step is accompanied by mantras
(incantations) and sacrifices. An auspicious day
is chosen for the basupati, the awakening ceremony
for the finished blade."

pg48 The Gods and the Forge

Pusaka, thank you for finally producing a reference to the great source of your knowledge, but you should know that the above passage is actually on page 49.
And congratulations. You will now find yourself in moderated status for your rude and impertinent sarcasm.