Ethnographic Arms & Armour - My Grandfathers Keris

Kelly, this is in my opinion a very good question that you have submitted, it can teach quite a lot.

It is important to understand that when we are dealing with the keris, a multitude of various “truths” can exist, there is no universal “truth” unless that truth is kept to a simplistic minimum.

Something else that must be understood is that the Javanese language is multi level, & the level used depends upon the hierarchical level of the speaker & the person spoken to; not only that, but the Javanese language can use multiple spellings if written, and multiple inflections if spoken, thus everything depends upon context. Apart from that, linguists consider that the Javanese language is a non-standardised language, something that I personally think of as the “Humpty Dumpty”syndrome:- “when I use a word, it means just what I intend it to mean, neither more nor less”--- something like that, anyway.

So let’s look at the information you have so far been given.

One informant has given you this:-

“---17th century Keleng Pamor sinom weleng kekek, ---”

This is a description & brought into English the words mean:-

Pamor -- in the context of keris, “pamor” refers to the blade material used to cover the hard steel core of the blade, very often this pamor is made of contrasting ferric material or of iron containing nickel, & the result is that the appearance of the blade presents a contrast in colours & perhaps textures; sometimes pattern welding might be used to create various motifs which can be read as having talismanic attributes. The pamor in your blade appears to be of iron without contrast, this type of pamor is named as “keleng”.

Sinom – the formal meaning of this word is that it is a form of Javanese verse, but in the context of the keris, it refers to a keris blade pattern that possesses certain defined characteristics.

Weleng – I believe this is either a misspelling or a local pronunciation of the word “weling”, I do not know a word “weleng”in Indonesian, Javanese or Balinese, alternatively it could be a typo, or an incorrect rendering of “keleng”. However, if it is to be read as “weling”, that fits with the following word “kekek”, which is an incorrect, or local variation of “kakek”, & that word means “grandfather”, and in Indonesian, & also low Javanese, “weling kakek” can be understood as “grandfather’s last will & testament”
So now we can guess at what this informant might have wanted to say.

Your other informant gave you this :-
“-- Sinom Waro Wari – “

Again, this informant believes this to be a keris of the form or dhapur, “sinom”.

The Surakarta pakem of dhapur (Surakarta is city/kraton, pakem is guidebook, dhapur is keris form) does provide a dhapur named “sinom wora wari” (NB—not waro wari these words have a totally different meaning & are not a part of the dhapur name), regrettably your keris does not conform to the parameters of this dhapur, it does conform in part, but it is well outside the applicable parameters, & in fact there is no exact match for this particular keris of yours in the Surakarta Pakem, nor any of the other sources of which I know. So, in Surakarta, we would think of this keris as being “di luar pakem”, that is outside the parameters.

Now I’ll give you my opinion.
The blade of this keris conforms in large part to the form of a Surakarta keris, the upright shape of the blumbangan, the shape of the rondha, the overall form (pawakan) support this. I am not willing to name any recognised dhapur for this keris, the pamor appears to be keleng, but if the blade were to be cleaned & stained I could perhaps change this opinion.
I cannot place this blade in the 17th century, in my opinion it is probably best dated as “pre- 20th century”, in the hand this opinion could change.

The scabbard is a formal one, a ladrangan, the pendok (metal cover ) is a blewah style, so:- warangka (or wrongko) ladrangan blewah.

The hilt (jejeran) is a Central Javanese form that in English we call a “planar” hilt, it is most likely a Surakarta/Solo style & of sub-type yudowinatan, but I would need it in my hand to be absolutely certain of this. There should be a little ornamental ring, usually of metal, between the bottom of the hilt & the blade, this is called a mendak & it is missing.

Altogether it is a pretty nice old keris, not of high quality, but certainly absolutely old & genuine, & at the present time, things like this are not easy to find. It does need a bit of TLC but it could be restored to something pretty nice that somebody in the future might want to preserve.