Small krises from Sumatra

[A. G. Maisey]

David, I am not able to make a definitive statement on the "young boys" idea.

I've heard it often enough, and I guess that if a keris were to be given a boy after his circumcision, as sometimes happens, a scaled down one might be appropriate. When a keris is made specifically for a person it is made to reflect that person's age, size, societal position. A keris made specifically for a boy just entering society would probably be made smaller than a normal size keris. Similarly, a keris made for a man of small stature could also be expected to be a bit smaller than usual.

I do think that it is a valid idea that boys might have sometimes had smaller keris made specifically for them, most especially where the boy concerned was in a position where he would need to attend formal functions, however I cannot say definitely that this was the case.