A different Pamor which is not folded but pasted

A. G. Maisey · 17th August 2024, 08:27 AM

Yohan, I have not heard either gedhagen or gedhegan used to describe the type of blade surface you describe, in Solo we call it "nginden" , I personally translate "nginden" as "chatoyant" but I do not know the Javanese meaning except as applied to keris pamor.

In Javanese the word "gedheg" refers to a panel of woven bambu, it can be a fence or a wall made of this. I do not know if the word exists in Balinese, perhaps this variation of wos wutah is being likened to woven bambu, or maybe just the strips of bambu that are woven, but if it is, I cannot see it.

You undoubtedly know the batik motif "nam gedheg", nam refers to the weave, you add gedheg & you have woven bambu. This same motif is used for other art works also, it is a well known pendok motif.

Getting back to the pamor motif, I think 99% of keris people would call this simply wos wutah, there are a very great number of variations of wos wutah pamor, & as far as i can see, nobody knows them all, can identify them all, or consistently name them. I picked up the "gedeghan" addition to the wos wutah from a gentleman I used to know in Solo, he was older than me, he knew more than I did, I figured he was probably right.

As I was just now writing this a thought occurred to me, I've just checked "Keris Bali", the Neka book, the text was written by Basuki Yuwono, who is Javanese and he uses a lot of Javanese terms in his writing, if we go to page 97, we can find an example of wos wutah gedhegan, bottom line of pics, last on right.

17th August 2024, 08:27 AM	#9
A. G. Maisey Member Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 6,989	Yohan, I have not heard either gedhagen or gedhegan used to describe the type of blade surface you describe, in Solo we call it "nginden" , I personally translate "nginden" as "chatoyant" but I do not know the Javanese meaning except as applied to keris pamor. In Javanese the word "gedheg" refers to a panel of woven bambu, it can be a fence or a wall made of this. I do not know if the word exists in Balinese, perhaps this variation of wos wutah is being likened to woven bambu, or maybe just the strips of bambu that are woven, but if it is, I cannot see it. You undoubtedly know the batik motif "nam gedheg", nam refers to the weave, you add gedheg & you have woven bambu. This same motif is used for other art works also, it is a well known pendok motif. Getting back to the pamor motif, I think 99% of keris people would call this simply wos wutah, there are a very great number of variations of wos wutah pamor, & as far as i can see, nobody knows them all, can identify them all, or consistently name them. I picked up the "gedeghan" addition to the wos wutah from a gentleman I used to know in Solo, he was older than me, he knew more than I did, I figured he was probably right. As I was just now writing this a thought occurred to me, I've just checked "Keris Bali", the Neka book, the text was written by Basuki Yuwono, who is Javanese and he uses a lot of Javanese terms in his writing, if we go to page 97, we can find an example of wos wutah gedhegan, bottom line of pics, last on right.