Talismanic inscription on keris

David · 16th November 2016, 01:30 PM

Some nice and interesting examples presented here. I am not very adept a Jawi writing so i am not particularly certain about the symbol that looks like a reversed "B". Perhaps it is so variation on the Jawi number 9, which i don't see otherwise presented in these sequences, but that is nothing more than a guess.
These are, of course, as you have noted, talismanic in nature. I believe they are much akin to magickal squares that can be found throughout Western magickal histories. Not to discourage your research, but deciphering such talismanic sequences would be a near impossible task. These undoubtably had a very important and personal significance to the person who placed them there, but their exact meaning is not really intended for anyone else to know, i'm afraid.
BTW, i must point out that while you describe these as "almost identical numerals" i believe it is quite the opposite. Yes, the numerals themselves are all similar, but the numerical sequences on each of these blades is quite unique, nothing like the other, and would have completely different personal talismanic meanings to their original owners. We could not say the "War and Peace" and "Anna Karenina" are almost identical simple because they both contain a sequence of similar letters strung together in a similar format.

16th November 2016, 01:30 PM	#3
David Keris forum moderator Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Nova Scotia Posts: 7,211	Some nice and interesting examples presented here. I am not very adept a Jawi writing so i am not particularly certain about the symbol that looks like a reversed "B". Perhaps it is so variation on the Jawi number 9, which i don't see otherwise presented in these sequences, but that is nothing more than a guess. These are, of course, as you have noted, talismanic in nature. I believe they are much akin to magickal squares that can be found throughout Western magickal histories. Not to discourage your research, but deciphering such talismanic sequences would be a near impossible task. These undoubtably had a very important and personal significance to the person who placed them there, but their exact meaning is not really intended for anyone else to know, i'm afraid. BTW, i must point out that while you describe these as "almost identical numerals" i believe it is quite the opposite. Yes, the numerals themselves are all similar, but the numerical sequences on each of these blades is quite unique, nothing like the other, and would have completely different personal talismanic meanings to their original owners. We could not say the "War and Peace" and "Anna Karenina" are almost identical simple because they both contain a sequence of similar letters strung together in a similar format.