reversed hilt on palembang keris

[PenangsangII]

Originally Posted by BluErf

I think the use of the term "Palembang" to refer to the earlier kerises shown is just for convenience. I don't believe all of them came from Palembang area itself. Palembang was the centre of the Sriwijaya empire, so there would probably have been a 'high culture' of keris there, which spread outwards to other parts of the kingdom. Pasemah could have been one of these areas, which explains the similarity in sheath forms. But is the "abstract man" hilt an exclusive regional form to Pasemah only? Even that form has a few variations.

Hi Blue,

its interesting that you mentioned "Sriwijaya" in connection with "high culture of keris" in Palembang. But I think the high culture of keris in Palembang was primarily due to its proximity with Padjajaran. Historically, Palembang was a vassal state of Majapahit (previously Singhasari) thus we see a lot of wide and simple keris blade.