Keris pincit?

[Ganapati]

What was the purpose of these keris?
How were thumbprint placed on them ?
How does one confirm authenticity?

[David]

Originally Posted by Ganapati

What was the purpose of these keris?
How were thumbprint placed on them ?
How does one confirm authenticity?

1. Purpose would be talismanic. These keris were not made as practical weapons. The smith is imparting his power into the keris in this manner. I don't think there is just one talismanic purpose to be found here. All depends on what the need is at the time.
2. Good question. Alan Maisey has done a little bit of modern experimentation with this to see if it was possible to actually do with the fingers so he can probably speak to this a little more.
3. Another good question. This is easily faked by replacing tools for fingers. I think to takes a lot of looking at a lot of examples and in the end the answer is never definitive.
4. I believe the word you wanted is actually "Picit".

[A. G. Maisey]

GP, the names of keris that supposedly bear thumb or finger prints is "Pejetan" in Jawa; the word "pejet" means to press with the thumb or finger, in common usage a "pejetan" is a pushbutton.

These little keris also occur in parts of Malaysia and the Riau Archipelago where they are called "Keris Picit", this is given in English as "Keris Pichit"; the word "picit" is a Malay word and it means 'to pinch or to squeeze'.

I do not know the original purpose of these keris-like blades, but since colonial times they have been regarded as talismans. I do not know of any particular talismanic function that they are associated with, but they are regarded as being an overall positive talisman.

Most keris pejetan that we meet with have been created with tools, and are usually quite recent. A very, very few keris pejetan have the probability of having been created by finger pressure of the maker. In the final analysis we have no way at all of knowing which keris genuinely bears finger/thumb prints, and which was created with a ball-pein hammer.

I have had a lot of these keris pass through my hands. I kept a couple of the ones that I believed might have been genuine, and these were included in my sub-collection of similar talismanic keris (k. sajen, k. sombro). I sold this collection some years ago to a gentleman who has included it in a collection to go into a university museum.

I still have one keris pejetan which also happens to be a keris sombro.

Keris sombro are believed to assist in childbirth if placed under the bed of a woman who is about to give birth.


The indentation on the blade of a keris pejetan is in most cases created with some tool or other, usually a hammer, however, there are a very few that might have been created by finger pressure. There were probably several ways in which this could have been done, but it definitely can be done. The blades of these keris are usually paper thin and a working smith would have both the strength and the toughness of skin necessary to compress paper thin red hot metal between his thumb & a finger.

The experimentation that David refers to involved forging a piece of material as thin as I could get it, then holding it at red heat above a bed of sand, hitting it with a wet finger tip as fast as possible. I created a dent in the material, I did not hurt myself, and the skin on my hands is not the skin of a working smith. It can be done.


It is impossible to confirm authenticity.

It is possible to form an opinion on authenticity if one has a very great deal of experience in this field.

This experience could be in either the visible characteristics of the blade, or in detection of esoteric qualities.

I had two Indonesian relatives, both now passed, who were acknowledged as having the power to detect if an object possessed some sort of esoteric power. One of these relatives claimed that he had encountered a couple of these small talismanic keris-like objects that did have some sort of "isi" (content), but the other, who was a much more highly regarded practitioner in the field of mysticism, claimed that he had never encountered any "isi" in any of these keris-like objects that he had had in his possession, according to him, this type of thing was very likely to be empty.

[jagabuwana]

Alan, you've brought out a bunch of questions I've had for a little while about a keris and its powers or talismanic qualities.

To start - if we say a keris has isi, is that the same as saying it has talismanic qualities? Can a keris have talismanic qualities without having isi?

[A. G. Maisey]

Good questions Jaga.

In this Forum we have mostly stayed away from discussion of the esoteric elements associated with the keris. Understandable to some degree. There is a tremendous amount of nonsense that does get spread around, about keris, and there are numerous shysters out there, both with an online presence, and working face to face in the community. I know personally some of these people who are in Jawa, and really, I'd like to see most of them gone. They purport to sell things that in fact cannot be sold under any circumstances, and if payment does happen to be involved it should be done in the appropriate way, which is face to face.

At the moment these people only damage the image of the keris and detract from the real esoteric element that some keris might possess.

I'll try to answer your question Jaga, and any others along these lines that you might have, but my answers must not be read as my own opinions, my answers should be understood as repetition of what I have learnt from people who have, or had, a far greater understanding of the esoteric nature of the keris than I have.

In respect of "isi".

When people talk of a keris having "isi", or of having something contained in it, they are talking of that keris being inhabited by a spirit. That spirit might be good, it might be bad, or it might be bad and good, depending upon circumstances.

In old Javanese belief the spirit will be a nature spirit, the same type of spirit that might inhabit a tree, or a rock, or a place, or it could be a spirit that takes the form of an animal, the form the spirit takes is really only so that it can be seen or imagined by a person, it might be a tiger spirit, for instance, but that does not necessarily mean that it is the spirit of a tiger. The form is only for the sake of visualisation.

Such an isi might be of some assistance to the custodian of the keris or it might not be, but the assistance cannot be of a physical form, only of a form that assists helping to solve problems or to present oneself as one wishes to be seen.

How an isi comes to be in the keris is open to argument. It might have lodged there by accident, or it might have been called into the keris by a dukun (shaman). The type of dukun who was able to do this seems to have disappeared from Central Jawa today. In the late 1980's, maybe 1988, I met a man who was in the process of searching for such a dukun, the first time I met him was at a friend's house and at that time his search had taken him over most of Central Jawa and into East Jawa. I met him again about 12 months later, and he still had not been successful.

My pembantu (helper, housekeeper) in Palur was a very simple woman, she had absolute belief in ghosts, spirits, and every possible symbol or token of good & bad luck. She could not read or write, could not tell the time from a digital watch face. She was totally, totally grassroots Jawa. I had a lot of conversations with her about the mystical magical things of Jawa and about dukuns. According to her, all the genuine dukuns had disappeared before she was born, of the ones currently practicing in the districts around Solo that she knew, there was only one dukun who had some power, and he was known as a healer and somebody who could prepare little bags of leaves & petals that would ward off the unwelcome attentions of evil spirits. But he was not able to contact or call spirits.

I had a relative who had the belief that every keris he cared for had an isi that was either a kyai or a pangeran. He would sleep with each new keris he acquired until the spirit in the keris revealed itself to him, if it was not a kyai or a pangeran, he would sell that keris. The problem with this belief is that according to the beliefs of the people I learnt from, a keris cannot have the spirit of a kyai or a pangeran, it can only have the old, indigenous nature spirits.

In recent times and in parallel with the rise of radical Islam in Jawa, people have begun to believe that genies (djinn) & servants (khodam) can be the isi of a keris, but again, this belief was not a part of the beliefs of my teachers. Pauzan Pusposukadgo (Alm.) regarded such beliefs as sinful, he was a very good and observant Muslim. Pak Parman ( Empu Suparman) was committed to the philosophies of Kejawen, a distinctly Javanese blend of Islam and indigenous beliefs, and he thought such beliefs to be laughable and to only indicate the lack of understanding of those who believed in these things.

I know why Pak Parman thought in this way, and it was because it was his firm belief that no keris could have any power at all unless it had been made by an empu who had followed correct ritual and who had used the appropriate mantras during the making of the keris. By following these traditional and long established rituals the power of the keris was made obvious by the dhapur & pamor that had been used, and the power of the empu was sufficient to ensure that evil spirits did not enter the keris. He was scornful of the idea that anybody could actually call anything into a keris, he firmly believed that only those keris made by an empu and in accordance with ritual, could have any power. That power is represented by the dhapur & pamor is known as "tuah".

Tuah must not be confused with isi :- isi is not connected with talismanic qualities, tuah is only connected with talismanic qualities.

What is very obvious to me is that the grassroots common people, the farmers, factory workers, becak drivers and just ordinary people who are lowly placed in the social hierarchy do mostly believe that an isi can be called into a keris, but the higher up the tree of the keris hierarchy you go, the less you will find this folk belief. When you get to the top of that keris hierarchy it might be very difficult to find anybody who has any belief at all about isi and tuah that varies much from the beliefs of Empu Suparman Supowijoyo & Empu Pauzan Pusposukardgo. But when you go into the desas and talk to people at a grassroots level you will find some people who do have these folk beliefs, this is probably not all that different from the situation in other parts of the world.

The really sad part about all of this is that a genuine, longstanding Javanese belief system that is tied to the indigenous beliefs of Jawa has been corrupted by the pressure of Islam to change the keris from a Javanese icon into something that has to a large extent lost its original nature and has become something that Islam is more comfortable with. This began more than 500 years ago, and it continues today.

Again, not much different at any time and anywhere to what happens when a new belief system attempts to replace an existing belief system.

[jagabuwana]

Thank you Alan, that was really insightful.
I appreciate that your answers are repeating those you learned from instead of your own. I think that's the best possible way to approach this given the noise, nonsense and sensitivity that's often found whenever this topic is brought up.

I'm glad I asked the simpler question before diving headlong into ones about tuah because you answered all of them. But it does lead to this one:

In the belief of these people you've learned from, is a well-manufactured and within-pakem keris still a keris in the fullest sense if it was not made by an empu using the right rituals and mantras? For this question I'm mainly referring to Empu Suparman almarhum and others that shared his beliefs.

[A. G. Maisey]

Yes Jaga, certainly.

Keris are not one dimensional, they were and are made for a number of reasons.

A keris can be made as a weapon, pure & simple, it can be made as a work of art, it can be made as a pusaka intended for ongoing use as this in a family, it can be made as an item of dress. There are probably other reasons in respect of why a keris is made.

Not all keris are equal, a keris can be made by anybody who can hold the tools, but a keris made as a pusaka, and a keris made with tuah can only be made by an empu when he is making with the attendant rituals & mantras.

Since keris are not signed we then need to ask just how it is that we can be relatively certain that an empu has indeed made a particular keris.

This is where tangguh comes into play, we need to be able identify the approximate period when the keris was made. Tangguh does not really allow us to do this across all times, but if we understand the parameters that govern tangguh it does allow us to differentiate between recent keris & truly old keris, further it does permit us a reasonable degree of certainty in respect of where it might have been made. Armed with these approximations we can then judge whether or not the quality of workmanship is high for the time & place, it permits us to eliminate at the outset keris that have no possibility of having been made by an empu.

Once we have a keris of empu-made quality identified, and we have a reasonably defensible opinion on time & place of manufacture, we can then say whether or not there is a reasonable possibility that this particular keris was empu-made or not.

This is really very important from the Javanese perspective, because this defensible opinion goes a very long way towards determining the value of a keris. Empu Suparman made most of his income by providing this sort of defensible opinion to sellers, dealers and buyers.

[David]

Originally Posted by A. G. Maisey

In this Forum we have mostly stayed away from discussion of the esoteric elements associated with the keris. Understandable to some degree. There is a tremendous amount of nonsense that does get spread around, about keris, and there are numerous shysters out there, both with an online presence, and working face to face in the community. I know personally some of these people who are in Jawa, and really, I'd like to see most of them gone. They purport to sell things that in fact cannot be sold under any circumstances, and if payment does happen to be involved it should be done in the appropriate way, which is face to face.

At the moment these people only damage the image of the keris and detract from the real esoteric element that some keris might possess.

Thank you Alan for posting some good, solid responses to Jag's questions.
I just want to be clear, not only to you, but to all our members. As a moderator for this group i do not in any way want to discourage the discussion of the esoteric elements of the keris. It is in fact one of the reasons we separated keris discussion from the main Ethno Forum, so that we could explore aspects of keris culture that collectors of other ethnographic weapons were not quite able to put into context or wrap their heads around. I believe it is important that we do not push these subjects aside exactly because of what you state in your posts. It is important to at least try to sort the "shyster" spiel from more traditional esoteric elements of keris culture to attempt to head off the damage that can and has been done to the image of the keris.
This is not to say that there are not inherent difficulties to these types of discussion. I ask that people be respectful of the beliefs other may hold dear when we engage in these discussions and remember that the "understanding" of the keris may indeed be different for different people depending upon the sources used to form their beliefs. But we should also remember that all sources of information are not necessarily equal. As long as discussion remains friendly and civil i encourage more discussion on these esoteric subjects.

[A. G. Maisey]

Understood & agreed David.


EDIT


David, I wrote my initial response to your Post #8 as soon as I opened my computer for the day. First thing I did. Since then I've had breakfast, attended to a couple of business matters, checked out the weather and uttered a couple of prayers to the Controller of Weather in the hopes that the rain and cold weather will stop. January should be beach-time here in the Land of Oz, instead I'm wearing a tracksuit and woolen slippers. Not good.

And I've been thinking, thinking that I really should add a little tail to my agreement.

At the present time we can throw a few relevant search terms into Google and come up many sellers of keris. For example, my search term a few minutes ago was:-

"mystic powerful keris kris for sale"

I got 265,000 hits in less than half a second.

I scanned down the list of sellers, some I have known about for years, others seemed like new additions, one seller has a number of different sites with different presentations that all come back to the same person, who deals in talismanic items, all guaranteed to have been tested by a qualified mystic in Indonesia and to contain very powerful "servants" & occasionally a "genie".

These sellers also offer keris that are presented as being hundreds of years older than they truly are and with accompanying promises of powerful esoteric powers, all guaranteed & tested by Indonesian mystics & with certificates from famous museums. I will not mention the asking prices, but if you feel like a bit of light amusement these sites are easy enough to find, especially for people who live in the UK.

Many people who are outside the keris bearing societies of South East Asia do have some basic knowledge of the keris, and a percentage of these people also have an interest in the legendary mystical qualities of the keris.

Over the years I have had many people contact me with questions relating to the esoteric qualities of the keris, I have tried to assist as best I can, but sometimes some people would prefer to believe the snake oil salesmen. Because of this I am usually pretty hesitant with my responses to questions about the keris when those questions are related to the Hidden World.

I do not ever wish to insult, discourage or disappoint people. What I would like to be able to do is to encourage people to learn the reality of the spiritual nature of some keris.

But that cannot be done in isolation from a knowledge of the culture & society of the people who hold the keris as a central icon of their culture.

You cannot remove the keris from the place that gave it birth, and expect to understand it, any more than you can understand roses without an understanding of the soil and climate that permits them to grow.

These shysters who trade off the inadequate understanding of genuine people who have a genuine interest in keris, but who do not yet have a level of knowledge that is adequate to permit them to distinguish the false from the genuine, are a pox on the World of the Keris.

These liars and pretenders and shonks and shysters and snake oil salesmen are stealing something from innocent, trusting people, something that can be quite beautiful.

It is not the money that they steal that is important, this is totally unimportant, we can always replace money, what they are stealing is the possibility of an experience that can open a new and enhanced vision of the world around us.

The keris is a multi facetted object, and one of those facets is an opening to a world of magic that very few people truly experience.

As long as these lying wolves are out there selling their falsehoods and deceptions it can only damage something that many of us here hold dear.

[jagabuwana]

David - noted, and thank you for saying so. This forum is by far the most valuable resource online when it comes to the keris and it should continue to be enriched through discussing the more esoteric matters. There's only so much we can grasp, and those who know can only impart so much, but it's valuable nonetheless.

Difficulty and wading through the muck might be an unavoidable feature of this topic and so be it. We all play a role in ensuring that discussions are civil and with integrity or veracity, so that the standard of this forum is upheld.

Alan - Thanks for your very insightful answers to my questions thus far. As to your post above - hear hear! (or in the exotic language of our people - ken oath).

[jagabuwana]

Originally Posted by A. G. Maisey

What is very obvious to me is that the grassroots common people, the farmers, factory workers, becak drivers and just ordinary people who are lowly placed in the social hierarchy do mostly believe that an isi can be called into a keris, but the higher up the tree of the keris hierarchy you go, the less you will find this folk belief.

Yes this is a very common belief that I have observed among common people too, and one that I've observed in my family both here and in Sunda. The belief is that the right person could do this. That person might be someone naturally gifted and further trained with the ability, a kyai who would necessarily be more syncretically inclined, or a dukun.

It is a very interesting that you do not find this belief when you get closer to the middle of the concentric circle, where getting closer to the middle of that circle means being more closely connected to a functioning continuous court culture along with its values, beliefs and norms.

I recall from previous discussions that tantric practices and rituals are reserved for the elite and inner circles, and hidden from the lower classes. I wonder if folk beliefs regarding isi and the power of the keris' is some kind of attempt to make the keris and its power available to the commoner, through their own ways of communing with the unseen.

[A. G. Maisey]

Yes Jaga, it is a fairly common belief amongst many grassroots people that certain mystically empowered people can call entities into not only keris, but virtually anything.

The belief is generated by the ability of the "mystically empowered" person to convince the person who is paying for the service that in fact that walking stick --- or whatever --- now has a khodam in it that will help him to climb stairs as he did 50 years ago. He didn't really need surgery at all.

I have seen exactly this, up close and personal. Its a bit like faith healing, it works for a while but when the belief begins to fade, as it invariably seems to do, things go back to being as bad as they ever were.

I do know personally several people in Solo who engage in this sort of thing, ie, as sellers of the false. I know their backgrounds, I know their families. I think that perhaps this "calling of spirits" thing might once have been real, but I agree with both my Palur pembantu, and the gentleman who sought but failed to find, that genuine practitioners of this craft no longer exist, even if they might once have existed.

It is true that the closer we get to the centers of true power in Jawa the harder & more focussed the esoteric practices and realities do become. I have seen people who were a part of this kraton culture literally laugh out loud when talking about the beliefs of people whom they believed had no understanding of the realities --- never in the presence of these people, of course. I have seen my own tutor & mentor foaming at the mouth with outright rage when he and several other people were discussing what we had just witnessed & heard at a keris meeting that we had been invited to in Ngayogyakarta.

There is quite a gap between the belief systems of the upper classes and the belief systems of the common people. The kraton is the protector of Islam, this is certain, but the Islam that is followed by most of the people who are at the heart of Karaton culture is in fact Kejawen, not the rough, folk belief Kejawen of the farmers and becak drivers, but the refined philosophical Kejawen of the elites.

It is also true that tantrism is still practiced to a limited degree in Jawa, and of course, it is a total impossibility for any except the elites to be involved in this.

The idea of "isi" is not just limited to the common people, but the nature of isi has been corrupted by those who have no --- or very little --- understanding of keris culture. The idea of "servants" and "genies" & etc has no place in a world populated by indigenous nature spirits.

Tuah is generally believed by keris literate people to have some true essence, if it is a keris that was made by an empu and with proper ritual, then certainly that keris has talismanic power that might be able to be of value to the right person. It becomes a matter of matching the keris to the person. The fact that empu + ritual were involved in the making gives assurance that no evil entity can enter that keris.

But sub-standard keris that have been made by somebody other than an empu, and that have been made without ritual, have no power at all other than the power generated by the custodian. That is, if the custodian strongly believes that any particular keris has some sort of esoteric content, then that belief will have an effect upon the custodian's mental processes and body language and might generate the effect that he believes that the keris is providing.

If the custodian believes that the keris is re-enforcing his authority he will speak and act in a way that radiates authority, and the authority itself will follow.

This sort of discussion could go on endlessly, but it all gets back to one thing, we cannot understand the keris unless we understand the culture & society it comes from. Just that.

You, Jaga, you have a flying start . I myself have been fortunate and have a lot of years invested in poking into obscure little corners. But for somebody with no background in this field, trying to get to a position of some understanding must be incredibly difficult, and the shysters only make it more difficult for them.

Especially so when "pusaka keris" are offered for sale. Any keris that at one time might have been pusaka ceases to be so the instant it is sold. Pusaka keris must be given.

How about when 16th century keris that were made in Aeng Tong-tong some time during the last 30 or 40 years and that serve as a home to three separate khodam are offered for sale complete with certificates and guarantees?

Is this sort of thing helping anybody to get an understanding of the true power of the keris?

[David]

Originally Posted by A. G. Maisey

Especially so when "pusaka keris" are offered for sale. Any keris that at one time might have been pusaka ceases to be so the instant it is sold. Pusaka keris must be given.

I've brought this point up in discussion, not only here, but in other keris discussion venues numerous times. I find my take on this is often met with crickets. Why? Probably because the word "pusaka" has lost much of its true meaning in the keris collector world. It has become little more than a selling point for many. Collector get very excited about the idea of owning "pusaka" keris and just the mention of the word can be enough to raise the dowry of a keris by hundreds of dollars. The idea of buying a pusaka is, of course, ridiculous and illogically if one just stops for a moment and considers the meaning of the term. But when i have questioned folks who proudly present their newly acquired "pusaka" keris about what more they believe they have bought with a keris that was sold as "pusaka" they generally get offended by my query.

[A. G. Maisey]

David, I can understand why this might be so.

In colloquial speech in Solo, we often will use different words to refer to a keris blade. Sure, the most usual word is "keris", but in Javanese although "keris" is the most usual, a close second is "dhuwung", and in both Bahasa Indonesia & Ngoko (low level Javanese) the word "pusaka" will occasionally be used.

The m'ranggi who used to do a lot of work for me during the 1980's & 1990's used these three words interchangeably, we both knew that he did not mean "pusaka" in its strictest sense, but the way in which Javanese people use all levels of Basa Jawa, as well as Bahasa Indonesia, is to use words that blend well together and sound pleasant when spoken, so if in the context of what my m'ranggi was wanting to say, "keris" would have jarred on the ear, or "dhuwung" did not flow, then he would use "pusaka". He did it automatically, without thinking. In colloquial English we use similar delivery, and chose words that flow, or that sound more pleasant, or that might convey a meaning more closely. The word "dhuwung" is actually Krama for "keris", and its substitution for the word "keris" in a Ngoko context could be read as a token of respect for the keris under discussion.

This is easy for a native speaker, but for an outsider it can be confusing. And bear this in mind:- the Javanese language varies through dialects according to geographic location, and according to hierarchical language level. Indonesian people who do not use Javanese as their day to day native tongue will have as much difficulty with the nuances of the language as somebody from London, New York, or Sydney who is not a native speaker.

I have even encountered Australian teachers of Bahasa Indonesia who have had difficulty in understanding Bahasa Indonesia as it is spoken in Solo. This is because in Solo, and I guess Jawa in general, when ordinary people believe they are using BI, they are in fact using a mixture of BI & Ngoko , and even the Ngoko might not be what a textbook will tell you it should be, it will be local dialect.

You can see this in an English context also. I write pretty fair English, but my spoken English is delivered with a broad Bush Aussie accent. Sometimes people from USA & UK have more than a little bit of difficulty in understanding my accent, and if I lapse into fullon Aussie slang, nobody but the person I am speaking with will understand me. I've even encountered checkout girls working at inner city suburbs who had problems understanding me.

Now, when this word "pusaka" travels outside the place where everybody using it in speech knows exactly what is meant and how it is meant, an outsider will pick it up and think he has something that he does not have.

And yes, it is absolutely true that slippery dealers will also use this word "pusaka" in attempts to mislead potential inadequately educated buyers. These Slippery Sams do it on the net, they do it face to face, and they do it in the markets & back rooms of Jawa where keris are exchanged for money.

The Pusaka Keris is something special. It is very different to the ordinary keris that we can buy for somewhere between $10 and a few hundred thousand dollars. No amount of money can buy a Pusaka Keris complete with the characteristics that make it a Pusaka Keris.

A Royal Pusaka Keris can be an object that legitimises the reign of a ruler. If you buy that Ruler's keris, this does not mean that you also buy the right to rule his domain. The power of the keris does not come with the purchase of the keris.

A family Pusaka Keris is a keris that binds the present custodian of the keris to past custodians of the family Pusaka Keris, and in turn, binds the past custodians to the present custodian and through him to the extended kin group. Purchase of a family Pusaka Keris does not mean that you have bought family membership along with the keris.

The transfer of any power that a Pusaka Keris might encapsulate cannot be transferred by purchase, but it might be transferred by the gift of the Pusaka Keris to a new ruler, or to a new family member.

I have been the custodian of a family Pusaka Keris for around 50 years, it was intended to be given to a particular person when that person reached a certain age, provided he was ready. He reached the nominated age, he was not ready, and has not been ready to accept it in the years since. Very soon this Pusaka Keris will be given to a different person who has been agreed to as its correct recipient by the family concerned.

Nobody can buy a pusaka keris with money.

The people who do not yet understand the nature of the Pusaka Keris are simply not yet sufficiently educated. This should not be held against them, it is the duty of those who do understand to transfer permitted knowledge and understanding to those who do not yet understand.

Regrettably, many people who do not yet understand sometimes seem not to want to understand.

[David]

Exactly! And so very well stated.

[shadejoy]

A. G. Maisey Is there literature about studies of Keris and mysticism that you can recommend for a good read? I would be keen to learn how Keris progressed from an actual weapon to a pusaka with esoteric qualities. In comparison, I don't see similar historical tendency with other sword-type weapons like Katanas, Kukri, Chinese swords etc.

It's fascinating to find a weapon (could) be associated with the same group as jimat. Even rumors claimed that some Keris were not made by empus but pulled or materialized out of thin air, i.e. pusaka tarikan.

I wonder if this was a product of the old animism that still exists today even after Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam and others came to Nusantara. Or perhaps, religion and culture are inseparable as beliefs are uniquely cultural, e.g. Kejawen. Despite dismissal of such practices by religious leaders. A paradox. It is multi-faceted subject as you mentioned.

[A. G. Maisey]

SJ, I do not know of any one book, or essay, or article, or paper that will cover what you would like to learn about. In my opinion, the only way to get close to an understanding of the keris is by in depth study of Javanese/Balinese history, society, culture, and all associated elements in these fields. I've been at this for close to 70 years, and I do not believe I will live long enough to ever complete this study.

I recently contributed a chapter to a book produced by SUNY that takes a philosophical approach to personalised objects. My chapter deals with the way in which the keris has developed from something directly connected to an Indian blade form and that in its early days was just a weapon, through to it becoming recognised by UNESCO as a part of the intangible cultural heritage of the Indonesian People --- and I guess by extension, of the entire world.

This chapter is a very superficial over-view.

The keris in Jawa is now, and has been for some time, a dominant cultural icon, this is in large part due to its inseparable association with the Gunungan, which is perhaps the oldest and most influential icon of Javanese/Balinese culture.

The keris is in fact a symbolic representation of the Gunungan, as such it relates to Mount Meru, ie, Mount Kailash, and in turn to the Old Jawa & Balinese multi roofed temple, the meru, and it relates to the Balinese cremation tower.

The idea of the keris being a temple, or shrine also can occur in Hindu culture in India where warriors regarded their swords as shrines (Elgood).


Belief systems in Jawa overlay one another, so at its root we have the old indigenous beliefs centered on animism & ancestor worship, then there is the overlay of Hindu-Buddhist belief, which in turn was overlaid by Islam. The Javanese approach to everything is not one of "instead of", it is always "as well as". So in the case of, let us say, a Javanese person becoming Christian that does not mean that he then discards the beliefs of his ancestors, rather he adds to those beliefs. If one deity is good, surely more than one is better.

Here is a link to the bibliography attached to something I wrote a few years ago, it is reasonably comprehensive, but if you recognise that there is no short cut to what you want, you will find plenty of information in the works listed in this bibliography:-

http://www.kerisattosanaji.com/inter...n-bibliography


There is definitely a close association of the Javanese/Balinese keris with the esoteric, regrettably, this association has been corrupted, and the further we move from the center of keris culture, the more corrupt this deviation from understanding becomes.

[jagabuwana]

Thank you Alan for helping us understand this topic and for your time to answer my questions. I'm sure I speak for all of us in saying that we are very grateful.

~~

I see now the difference between tuah and isi, how your teachers understood these two things, and that talismanic qualities are attributed to tuah - not to isi.

Originally Posted by A. G. Maisey

. By following these traditional and long established rituals the power of the keris was made obvious by the dhapur & pamor that had been used, and the power of the empu was sufficient to ensure that evil spirits did not enter the keris.

I'd like to check if I understand this part correctly (emphasis added by me).
Does this mean that the talismanic qualities of the keris are not themselves caused by the pamor and dhapur, but the pamor and dhapur act as easy indicators to others about the powers and qualities that the empu intended for the keris?

[A. G. Maisey]

I don't know if I can give a straightforward, simple answer to that question JB.

It is the sort of question that might be answered in several ways, by several different people, with several different understandings. I don't believe I've come across this idea before.

The way I understand your idea is that a keris might have been produced by an mpu with the talismanic property of enhancement of authority, however, unless the mpu incorporates a specific form and/or motif into that keris, then nobody will know the talismanic power of the keris.

I think my take on this idea would be this:- all talismans, no matter what they are --- horseshoes, St Christopher medals, or keris --- gain their effect from the faith that the possessor has in the talisman. The effect of the talisman comes from an interaction between the talisman and the holder of the talisman. No belief, no effect.

If this proposition is true, then I am inclined to the belief that if the possessor of the keris --- or other talisman --- had absolute faith in the ability of the maker to bring that talismanic power into a keris, then it would be unnecessary for the maker to incorporate the physical signs into the keris that indicated its talismanic power.

However, without the physical signs of talismanic power, nobody else would know of the power of the keris, so its value would fall when it passed from the first possessor to all following possessors.

In Jawa a keris is considered to be a store of wealth, away & apart from any other qualities it might possess, so by incorporating the physical talismanic sign posts, the mpu ensures that his work, physical as well as spiritual, is recognised for all time.