Meet my new Keris

[vinny]

Hello

I think this is a Keris Yogyakarta, although I am just going by the clothes. I guess there is a possibility the Keris came from somewhere else, and is dressed in Yogyakarta clothes. Thanks everyone for all your help identifying the Pamor. After a quick look at Dominique Buttin’s Malay Edged Weapons site, I agree the Keris has Dapur Brojol.

I think this Keris is a “good” Keris, may be even a bit special. At first glance, it seems a little crude. The surface is a little rough and almost like raw metal ore! (perhaps the Empu suggesting meteoric origins?). The Keris is heavy, chunky, and feels very substantial, especially compare with my Keris Surakarta (which I may show you later), which has a delicate feel about it. It looks like it may have been slightly over-etched, but I like this overall effect.


The Pamor has crystalline structure, which sparkles, from all angles, glinting like little diamonds in the blade. As you rotate the Pamor creates a hologram effect and the pattern changes in the light. Looks like 3 types of iron, as there is black iron, grey iron and very bright iron and the twinkling parts.

I have taken some photos which you can the Pamor looks different from various angles, and on the close up of the straight part of the blade, you can clearly see layers in the Pamor which are twinkling, although they just appear white on the photo, believe me, the blade really does twinkle). You can see this most in what I think is the last photo.

The Mendak appears to be excellent quality, very intricate with tiny details, the wood also seems very nice quality too, as does the Pendok.

This Keris feels old, the clothes are obviously not new, and the blade looks, feels and smells old - I could just make out the smell of scented oil. I just gave the blade a quick bath in some lime juice, rinsed for a few minutes in water to prevent further etching and oiled with beautifully scented minyak sendana.

Any comment greatly received, especially corrections to my opinion, but please be kind to my Keris and each other!

[Rick]

Hi Vinny , I can see the glitter you refer to .
I have a very old keris that has touches of that type of pamor material also .

The other thing it has in common with your keris is the plain pamorless gangya .

If I recall correctly my keris is reputed to be from the Sultan Agung era ; possibly yours is also that old .

[tom hyle]

Maybe it's just me, but I find that odd little curl at the base of Rick's k(e)ris' blade particularly lovely. I've little doubt but that it is meaningful in some way, as well.

[Alam Shah]

If I'm not mistaken, the shiny silverish part is known as Pamor Akhodiat. In East Java and Madura, it's also known as Pamor Deling. As for the crystalline structures, I've seen many of those in the past. I have one, too.

[nechesh]

I agree with Alam about pamor akhodiat, though it would be pretty tough to determine from the quality of the photos shown.
If i am not mistaken it was forbidden for a time for keris not of the court to have gonjo with pamor. I would need to look up the specifics of when this time occurred.

[rahman]

The bright spots do look like pamor akhodiat -- created when the temperature during forging is 'just right'.

The photo you showed in another thread led me to believe you also have a pamor miang -- the 3D or hologram effect. Unfortunately, that didn't come out in these photos.

[vinny]

Rahman

It does have a what looks to me like hologram effect, but so far none of my attempts to photograph it have been successful. I was using flash and this seems to spoil the photo. I think I will need a good strong natural light.

It has to catch the light just right in one hand, and the camera steady in the other! So far I did not manage it. I will post some pictures when I have successfully captured it. I am still learning how to get the most out of my camera.

Thanks to everyone else for sharing your valuable knowledge, and pictures of your Keris.

Regards
Vinny

[vinny]

Hi Guys

I have managed to take more photots, but it has been difficult. I managed to run my batteries out trying to do this, and only got 2 good photos, where I had not cast a shadow by being to close, made the picture really blurred with a little wobble of of either hand, or just not photographed what I was trying to capture.

So here we go. The first photo is a close up and shows the pamor nicely, but you can't really see much of the "hologram" effect. The second photo shows the hologram effect better, and in the centre of the photo there is a bright white spot, which is where the light got it just right and glinted so nicely. .

Regards
Vinny

[rahman]

Vinny

Don't kill yourself trying to capture 3D images on a 2D medium

Your photos actually turned out better than mine:


You can photos of the whole keris, plus other collections, at http://www.kampungnet.com.sg You're also welcome to create your own albums in our Keris Gallery.

[vinny]

Pak Rahman

Thanks for the link. Some very nice Keris.

Terima kasih.

Regards
Vinny

[nechesh]

Yes Rahman, i would also like to thank you for this link. I bookmarked it immediately. I must also thank you folks for presenting so much of the site in English, which, given the cultural orientation of most of the participants, seems unnecessary. My only regret is that i would have far too much difficulty trying to communicate on the forum section with an Indonesian-English dictionary in hand.

[rahman]

Dear Nechesh

Thanks for the kind feedback. What I'm trying to do is popularize the keris culture among the 'natives' . It's a ruddy shame to see all you non-Malays having this passion towards the keris, and the Malays actually shying away from it, when there's so much they can be proud of.

I welcome all to set up albums of your collections. Please help to populate this gallery.

Our forums are bilingual, and you can actually participate in English. However, I hesitate to encourage this so as not to dilute the discussion in vikingsword. We have a different audience in mind, and I ask you keep in-depth keris discussions here.

[vinny]

Pak Rahman

Salams

Saya orang putih, tapi Ibu saya orang melayu. Nama saya juga Isa. Maafkan saya, saya bercakap sedikit-sedikit bahasa melayu. Saya tak ada peluang belajar.

I just try to catch up with all the culture I been missing out on, having been raised in England all my life. I came to visit my family in Singapore last year, my younger cousins thought it is very funny that as an orang putih - orang melay "mongrel" I was trying to be more "asian". Especially when I went hunting for gamelan recordings in Geylan.


Vinny

[rahman]

Vinny

Your Malay is perfect. Anda berbahasa lebih tertib dari ramai anak melayu sekarang. I am delighted you are recapturing your past. KampungNet has been doing that for the past 10 years for many people on the Internet. I hope you find yourself at home in our kampung.

Do join us as a member of our kampung.

wassalam

[Ian]

Rahman:

Thanks so much for the link. A few familiar names reside there.

Ian.

[Battara]

I'm with Ian (scary thought ) thanks for the wonderul link. Beautiful pieces (especially the sundang ).

[Boedhi Adhitya]

Salam to everyone..

Dear Vinny,
It's correct that your keris dressed in Yogyakarta style, Gayaman for sure. The Gayaman is considered as informal sheath in Java, which is used daily. The mendhak is Surakarta/Solo style. The hilt and pendhok are also Yogyakarta style. In my opinion, the blade is much older, perhaps from Tuban or old Madura era, around XV-XVI century. The pamor is beras wutah, and I also agree that it has the beautiful (and some believe, powerfull ) Akhodiyat pamor. For the dhapur (blade's shape), you should look carefully for the Tikel Alis (shallow groove which shaped like the eyebrow, located right upon the Gandhik/pejetan just before the sharp edge. "Alis" means, in fact, eyebrow). If the tikel alis presents, then the blade is Tilam Upih, if it is not, then you're right, it's Brojol.

Rick, your keris is what it's called in Java as "Tangguh Lempoh". Lempoh (javanese language) means lumpuh (Bahasa/Melayu) or crippled, in english. It's called so because the attribution (tangguh) could be judge undoubtly, so there should be only one attribution judgement for keris with "Tangguh Lempoh", which means, The Tangguh cannot "walk" to other era anymore . And yours is attributed to Sultan Agung era, Mataram Islam Kingdom.

Nechesh, it was also Sultan Agung who forbade the use of ganja/gonjo sekar (ganja with "flower", which is, the pamor), except his immediate families or high-rank court officials. But the use of ganja wulung (wulung means black, that is, ganja without pamor) is not always because the empu or keris' owner obeys the king. It might be caused by the original ones has been damaged, which may happen long after the keris was made. All in all, just look for the workmaship, which is the one you can always rely on.

I do apologize to everyone here, because I haven't get the pictures of my collections attached. It's always blurr, maybe because I only use digital camera from a handphone

[vinny]

Salam kepada Boedhi Adhitya

Thankyou for your very imformative post. I looked for tikel alis but I could not see it. The only relief present on the Ricikan is the part where finger and thumb squeeze it on either side. I notice on the ricikan a nice part of the pamor which seems to suggest that it was meant to look like an object falling into water creating a splash, or "plop". Unfortunately it is not visible on my earlier photos. I may attempt to photograph this later.

I think the ganja is original, but without pamor, maybe for effect? It could be a later addition, but if it is, it has been made very well as it is perfect fit and follows the lines and contours exactly. The ganja appears to be made from many layers when you examine closely.

My overall impression is that everything seems to be good workmanship, with nice details.

You have increased my knowledge of this Keris many times over, I appreciate the fact you have taken the time. Terima kasih.

Recommend Fuji S7000 digital SLR - its the cheapest digital SLR available. I take pictures at 3M pixels, but it can do upt to 6M true pixels, and 12M interpolated. A good, if not cumbersome camera.

Thanks to everyone else who has shared their knowledge and pictures.

Regards
Vinny

[Kiai Carita]

Just to add to information given by other members of this forum, the dapur Brojol is associated with the business of giving birth. Some Western references say that the dapur Brojol is a midwifes keris. This is true but not the whole story. According to legend the keris dapur Brojol was first owned and weilded by the great king Krisna of Dwarawati.

This is the Krisna of the famous Bhaghawad Gita, the incarnation of Wisnu. Krisna was a great diplomat and politician and worked his Godly (Wisnu-ite) works through the human institutions of diplomacy and politics. Therefore the dapur Brojol is sought after by healers, law makers, politicians and diplomats who are also in the business of 'giving birth' due to the nature of their work. The word brojol means to plop out like a baby does in an easy birth.

Vinny's keris seems also to have extra special pamor on the sor-soran area, shaped rather like layers of mountains. I could not see the photo properly but it seemed that there was pamor gunung there. This is believed by some in Jawa to have the esoteric powers to help the bearer achieve high aspirations and conquer tall mountains. You have a great keris to begin your collection, Sir! Selamat Anda telah berjodoh dengan sebilah keris yang indah dan berangsar!

Salam.

[vinny]

Kiai Carita

1000 thanks for you information.

I noticed this pamor gunung. I was not sure what it was. Thankyou for enlightening me. There is also something that looks like a "splash", but I have not yet photographed this. I will try to do it at the weekend.

I had a good feeling about this Keris, I agree Keris ini indah. I am not sure what my wife would say about a second marriage though!

Terima kasih

Regards
Vinny