number of Luk

[mariusgmioc]

Hello,

I have read that the traditional Javanese and Balinese keris should have no more than 13 luk. Yet, in the collections I have seen both in Java and Bali, there were fairly many examples with more than 13 luk.
Is the 13 luk limit really traditional or not?

Regards,

Marius

[Bjorn]

Originally Posted by mariusgmioc

Hello,

I have read that the traditional Javanese and Balinese keris should have no more than 13 luk. Yet, in the collections I have seen both in Java and Bali, there were fairly many examples with more than 13 luk.
Is the 13 luk limit really traditional or not?

Regards,

Marius

Marius, I recommend you to read Alan's "An Interpretation of the Pre-Islamic Javanese Keris" (which you can find here). In it, Alan posits that at the time of Mojopohit, the number of luks was counted differently, which resulted in the maximum number of regular luks being 11 (as opposed to the current 13).

The paper further points out the hierarchical nature of Javanese and Balinese society. From this it follows that more luks equals a higher position.
Eleven was (and in Bali is) the highest regular number. Shrines dedicated to Siwa (Shiva), the supreme God. are adorned with an 11-tiered roof.

Many kings had keris with 11 waves (or 13 according to the modern count), which makes sense as the ruler was often seen as an earthly manifestation of Siwa.

Blades with more than 11 luk are called kalawija in Java. On his Krisdisk, Jensen states that "If it has more it is called Kalawija Keris. In Surakarta they are only worn by men with certain charachteristics and qualities, such as artists, scholars, eccentrics and people with physical defects."
Alan puts this very eloquently in his paper as a keris made for someone "...who does not fit into the normal pattern of society, somebody like an artist, faith healer or shaman. Somebody who has patterns of thought, and behaviour, that vary from others in the community."

Perhaps these people got a higher number of luk as they were considered to be guided by a divine hand, or to act as an intermediary between the divine and eartly planes.