Quote:
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.
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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.