The Flying Keris

[A. G. Maisey]

Recently there have been several threads that touched on the mystical/magical qualities of the keris.

When I use the term "mystical/magical" I am not referring to the qualities of a keris associated with the talismanic beliefs surrounding various pamor patterns and blade forms (dapur), nor am I referring to the belief system that positions a pusaka keris as the cosmological focus joining the present owner to previous owners and linking these through the keris to all living members of the kin group.

Rather, I am referring to qualities, sometimes attributed to a keris, which place it firmly in the realm of the paranormal:- keris which cause death; keris which cause illness; keris which leave their scabbards and fight for their owners; keris which escape from locked rooms, go on a killing spree and then return to their locked cabinets; keris which cause their owners to kill their wives and neighbours ( irrespective of the wife being unfaithful and taking the neighbour as a lover), and of course flying keris.

My opinions on this type of keris have been formed over a very long period, and the experiences and knowledge that have caused me to form my opinions are the experience and knowledge I have gained as somebody who has very close contact with a number of keris dealers and craftsmen in Central Jawa and Bali. Additionally, I have close family contact with an acknowledged and respected paranormal, and casual friendly relations with a number of other paranormals living in Central Jawa.

I do not feel it is my place to denigrate the beliefs of those people who hold strong beliefs in respect of the powers of keris such as I have mentioned above. As has previously been noted in this discussion group, we may all hold whatever beliefs we will.

However, I do feel that the following story, which is only one of many similar stories that I know, could possibly explain why it is that I hold my present opinions.

For the enhancement of your knowledge I give you the story of a flying keris:-


This is a story about an extremely powerful keris that could fly, escape from and re-enter locked rooms and steel safes, and always return to its righful owner.

This is a true story, and I know personally one of the people concerned in this story.

Going back to about 1985 or 1986 there was a keris salesman who lived in Solo, and who had a particularly ugly keris that he had tried for a long time to sell, but could not find anybody who would buy it from him. He gave a lot of thought to this problem of having dead money on his hands in the form of an unsaleable keris, and he finally hit upon a plan that he was certain would allow him to free himself of this keris.

He had a brother who lived in Surabaya, and he approached him and asked for his assistance, which the brother readily agreed to give.

The keris salesman then approached a well known collector in Solo and told him that he knew of an extraordinary keris that was available for sale. This keris belonged to a man who lived in Surabaya, and who was desperate for money because he had to pay for an operation for his wife. The keris was a family keris that had been given to the seller's ancestor by Sunan Ampel, and it possessed the power of flight. Not only could this keris fly faster than the wind, but it could escape from any restraint, including locked doors and steel safes, and it would always return to its righful owner. The price being asked was very high, but it was a unique and powerful keris. Was he interested in meeting the owner?

The Collector was more than interested in meeting the owner! He was burning with desire to have the opportunity to see, and perhaps obtain this fabulously powerful keris.

The Collector agreed that on the coming Sunday morning he would come to the Keris Salesman's house, where he would meet the Man from Surabaya who wanted to sell this keris.

Come Sunday morning, the Collector duly rolled up in his Mercedes Benz, the Man from Surabaya was already there, they were introduced, shared drinks and conversation, and finally the Man from Surabaya allowed the Collector to see and handle the wonderful keris.

Of course, the Collector was no fool. He'd been around the traps two or three times and he was well aware that not everybody is entirely honest when it comes to selling anything, let alone keris. He did not build his business empire by being fooled and lied to by people, so he did the natural and expected thing:- he asked for proof of the fabulous abilities of this keris to fly faster than the wind, escape from locked rooms, and return to its rightful owner.

The Keris Salesman proposed a test of the fabled abilities of this keris; during conversation, he himself had expressed doubts that any keris could escape from a steel safe, even if it might be able to fly. He proposed that he lock the keris in his safe, and that all three of them---the Man from Surabaya, the Collector, and himself drive to Surabaya and see if the keris did in fact return to its rightful owner. The Man from Surabaya had no hesitation in agreeing to this test, and stated that he was positive that his keris would be there in its normal place when the three of them arrived. The Collector agreed to the test and said that if the keris was there when they arrived in Surabaya, he would be very interested in negotiating an agreement to make it his.

OK. Everything was agreed and the three of them got into the Collector's Mercedes and set off for Surabaya.

Its about a 4 hour run from Solo down to Surabaya, and along the way they stopped a couple of times to have refreshment, and relieve themselves. Eventually they arrived in Surabaya, pulled up at the Man from Surabaya's house, unlocked the front door, unlocked the door of the room where the keris was normally kept, unlocked the cupboard where the keris normally rested, and----there it was!

The same keris that had been left locked in a steel safe, in a locked room, in a locked house in Solo had escaped from the house and the safe, flown from Solo to Surabaya, arrived before the three men, and found its own place in the house of its rightful owner.

This was indeed a powerful keris!

The Collector immediately wrote a cheque for the bride price.

He then gave the Keris Salesman the expected 10% of the bride price, as his commission.

The Man from Surabaya cashed the cheque, kept 10% as his commission, and paid the balance to his brother, the Keris Salesman

The Collector was so pleased with having obtained such a wonderfully powerful keris that he kept it forever in a locked box in his safe, and never even allowed another person to see it. One does not take any risks at all with something as powerful and as valuable as a keris like that!

This is a true story.

And here is the other side of it.

When the three men left for Surabaya in the Mercedes, the Keris Salesman's son took the keris from his father's safe, using the spare key. He hopped on his motorbike and lit out for Surabaya. Rode straight through without a stop. Twenty year old kids don't suffer from prostate problems.
He opened up his uncle's house with the keys that had been given to him, placed the keris where he had been told to , locked everything up again, and rode back to Solo.

Yes indeed, a wonderfully powerful keris.

It managed to extract an amount of money equivalent to the price of decent house, from a very clever businessman.

[Alam Shah]

I do listen to stories... but believing in it is another. While researching, one can hear many kinds of stories. Stories like these are rampant. There's even a book "Esoteri Keris", (in Bahasa Indonesia), which forewarned about these trickery.

To me, even if it's a "powerful keris", it's no point having it without knowledge of its use. It's like having a machine gun, but don't know how to load the cartridge and fire the weapon. It's meaningless.

To each their own. Thanks for the story.

[rasdan]

IMHO, the keris itself dont have any power. Its just an object. The problem is caused by these entities and human being themselves. As a Muslim, i will always believe in the "cant be seen" stuff. But one thing to remember, human are superior than them and in now way they can harm you without god's willing. We report directly to God, there is no need for a third party participation. Humans can do a lot more damage.

[A. G. Maisey]

As somebody of Celtic bloodlines on both sides of my family, and three generations removed from pure Irish peasantry, I also do have a strong belief in the unseen. I grew up believing that bunches of garlic over the doors and windows kept out evil spirits. Spilt salt? An invitation to the devil.

However, how can any rational man believe that something made by man can possess a power above the power of God?

Even the existence of spirits, which would be difficult to deny, seems to be mostly, or perhaps always, associated with human emotion.

Then there is the factor of the communal sub-conscious.

Yes, the unseen is there, but can it harm you? Only if you believe it can.

Now, as for flying keris, as Shahrial says,there are many of these stories, but the cautionary thing is this:- stories like this can be laughed at in retrospect, however, when you are involved in them first hand, and the sandiwara is skilfully presented, it is a rare person who will not be taken in. The businessman in my story was and still is a very successful man. Now probably in his 70's, Chinese, and very hardnosed.Definitely nobody's fool. But he got sucked in and carried along just the same.

One of the things that I find particularly interesting are the ways in which some purveyors of keris have adapted their styles to the electronic medium. It is one thing take somebody for a ride when you are face to face. It is something else entirely to be able to do it over the net. Lew's example in another thread was a fairly unpolished presentation, but some of the more refined people can create magic ( of a different kind).

[kronckew]

the keris after all was said DID return to it's 'rightfull' owner, didn't it. the magic worked. it needed to use a kid on a motorcycle tho.

[David]

Originally Posted by rasdan

IMHO, the keris itself dont have any power. Its just an object. The problem is caused by these entities and human being themselves. As a Muslim, i will always believe in the "cant be seen" stuff. But one thing to remember, human are superior than them and in now way they can harm you without god's willing. We report directly to God, there is no need for a third party participation. Humans can do a lot more damage.

Well put Rasdan. I am not a Muslim, but this world view crosses both cultural and religious lines. I too have long been a believer in the the "unseen" worlds and have had my own personal experiences which have proved to me that such worlds and entities exist. But i also believe that true power resides within us as it is channeled through us from a higher source.
I have also had the pleasure of having a number of close friends who are fantastic stage magicians. Any one of them could easily make a keris appear to fly, disappear from one place and appear in another, draw water from it's blade or any one of the many feats often attributed in stories to "powerful" keris and you or i in audience to these events would never catch the tricks they use to produce these effects. The difference is that these magicians will openly tell you that they are using a trick (though they will never show you how they do it ). This is not to say that i do not believe that the keris is truly a deeply spiritual and magickal tool. But IMO parlor tricks is not the essence of the magick held within the keris.
We humans are also constantly looking for excuses for our behavior or reasons for why things happen to us. Some one in a previous thread mentioned that they know of a man whose keris forced him to give it his wife (though i'm not sure exactly how that works ). This is sort of a form of the "the devil made me do it" syndrome. It is so much easier for us to simply blame our actions or troubles on a cursed keris than to take responsibility and own up.

[rasdan]

Yeah David, cant blame somebody else on something you yourself did. But when you had sold your soul to the devil, well.. things aint going to be easy to explain..

[A. G. Maisey]

The whole "magic keris" business falls within the ambit of beliefs surrounding sorcery, witchcraft and magic in general. As an object it need be no more "magical" than any other object.

The magical object in South East Asian societies gains its power from cultural and social structure and beliefs. Where this "magic" spills over into European cultures it is because the South East Asian beliefs have influenced the European beliefs.

An excellent book which may give a little insight into these matters as they are placed in SE Asian societies is :- "Understanding Witchcraft and Sorcery in Southeast Asia"---Watson and Ellen, Uni Hawaii Press, 1993.