Bali keris holder use

A. G. Maisey · 8th December 2023, 10:59 PM

Your questions are well put Sid, but the problem is that over the last 100 years or so Balinese society & its mores have changed more than a little. If you can get hold of a copy of this book:-

https://brill.com/display/title/32970

it will open your eyes to what Bali was, compared to what it has now become.

The difference is enormous.

After the puputans a lot of the old cultural beliefs were explained away, and in a very short space of time, tourists and European artists influenced the societal style of Bali to a point where not only were many of the old ways abandoned, but they were forgotten too. Forgotten to the point where even the Gods & folk characters lost their identities.

Then we had Merdeka, and in order for the Balinese religion to be included as a recognised system of belief in the New Indonesia, it was forced to become monotheistic --- at least in its official form.

I have read somewhere or other that the totogan keris holders were used for guests to place their keris into, when they entered a house. I used to know of a house in the Ubud hinterland where the owner kept his family keris holders on the front verandah of his house. Last time I passed this house, those keris holders were gone.

I doubt that the idea of being impolite would have existed in Bali at the time when visitors were expected to remove a keris before entering a host's house. The Balinese character would see this as an insult, and in past times the way to remove insult was with blood. I tend to believe that entering to a house whilst bearing a keris would be tantamount to a challenge --- if indeed it was socially unacceptable to enter a house whilst wearing a keris.

As for some published source on the function of keris holders, I know of none, but there is ample material available that deals with Balinese society & religion, if one is prepared to devote time to a study of this published material, a good foundation for formulation of relevant hypotheticals can be constructed.

It is pretty much the same old story:- we do not learn the keris by studying the keris, we learn the keris by studying the society from which it comes.

8th December 2023, 10:59 PM	#7
A. G. Maisey Member Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 6,857	Your questions are well put Sid, but the problem is that over the last 100 years or so Balinese society & its mores have changed more than a little. If you can get hold of a copy of this book:- https://brill.com/display/title/32970 it will open your eyes to what Bali was, compared to what it has now become. The difference is enormous. After the puputans a lot of the old cultural beliefs were explained away, and in a very short space of time, tourists and European artists influenced the societal style of Bali to a point where not only were many of the old ways abandoned, but they were forgotten too. Forgotten to the point where even the Gods & folk characters lost their identities. Then we had Merdeka, and in order for the Balinese religion to be included as a recognised system of belief in the New Indonesia, it was forced to become monotheistic --- at least in its official form. I have read somewhere or other that the totogan keris holders were used for guests to place their keris into, when they entered a house. I used to know of a house in the Ubud hinterland where the owner kept his family keris holders on the front verandah of his house. Last time I passed this house, those keris holders were gone. I doubt that the idea of being impolite would have existed in Bali at the time when visitors were expected to remove a keris before entering a host's house. The Balinese character would see this as an insult, and in past times the way to remove insult was with blood. I tend to believe that entering to a house whilst bearing a keris would be tantamount to a challenge --- if indeed it was socially unacceptable to enter a house whilst wearing a keris. As for some published source on the function of keris holders, I know of none, but there is ample material available that deals with Balinese society & religion, if one is prepared to devote time to a study of this published material, a good foundation for formulation of relevant hypotheticals can be constructed. It is pretty much the same old story:- we do not learn the keris by studying the keris, we learn the keris by studying the society from which it comes.