Keris for ID and Comments

A. G. Maisey · 7th January 2020, 08:19 PM

Jean, Tuban is undoubtedly in East Jawa, it is about 100km west of Surabaya, but it is also a sea port on the north coast thus it is a coastal town, and in my experience people tend to regard anything along the north coast as "pesisir" rather than "West Jawa", "Central Jawa", or "East Jawa". I'd guess because of the historical reasons associated with ceding territory to the Dutch.

But insofar as keris are concerned, a classification of "Tuban" wipes out any other possibility:- we simply do not take an each way bet and classify something as Tuban then give it as East Jawa. Same idea as not giving something as Tangguh Surakarta and then adding Jawa Tengah.

In fact, Mahesa/Kebo Dengen in its standard form has five luk, it is never a straight keris, but when it varies from five luk, the number of luk should be mentioned.

On the other hand Kebo/Mahesa Teki in its standard form is a straight keris, although it is sometimes met with bearing luk, in which case we mention how many luk.

The big difference between Mahesa Teki and Mahesa Dengen is that Mahesa Teki has a plain gandhik, no kembang kacang, no lambe gajah, no jalen, whilst Mahesa Dengen has the kembang kacang, lambe gajah and jalen.

Incidentally, I cannot remember all this stuff about ricikan and dhapur, I remember bits of it that are sufficient (usually) for me to question something, then I check.

7th January 2020, 08:19 PM	#8
A. G. Maisey Member Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 7,013	Jean, Tuban is undoubtedly in East Jawa, it is about 100km west of Surabaya, but it is also a sea port on the north coast thus it is a coastal town, and in my experience people tend to regard anything along the north coast as "pesisir" rather than "West Jawa", "Central Jawa", or "East Jawa". I'd guess because of the historical reasons associated with ceding territory to the Dutch. But insofar as keris are concerned, a classification of "Tuban" wipes out any other possibility:- we simply do not take an each way bet and classify something as Tuban then give it as East Jawa. Same idea as not giving something as Tangguh Surakarta and then adding Jawa Tengah. In fact, Mahesa/Kebo Dengen in its standard form has five luk, it is never a straight keris, but when it varies from five luk, the number of luk should be mentioned. On the other hand Kebo/Mahesa Teki in its standard form is a straight keris, although it is sometimes met with bearing luk, in which case we mention how many luk. The big difference between Mahesa Teki and Mahesa Dengen is that Mahesa Teki has a plain gandhik, no kembang kacang, no lambe gajah, no jalen, whilst Mahesa Dengen has the kembang kacang, lambe gajah and jalen. Incidentally, I cannot remember all this stuff about ricikan and dhapur, I remember bits of it that are sufficient (usually) for me to question something, then I check.