Bali Keris for Comment

[RobT]

Hi All,

I bought this Bali keris a while ago (uwer added by me). I think the dapor and pamor are both very nice. Save for the broken last piece of grenning on the aring side, the blade is in pretty good shape. I think the blade and sheath are older than the hilt which I believe to be made of suar wood (AKA monkey pod or Rain tree, Saman Samanea). I would appreciate forum members opinions and observations so I can tell whether or not my evaluations are accurate. Can anyone id the pamor?

Sincerely,
RobT

[A. G. Maisey]

This is pretty fair old keris Rob, the blade could do with a bit of a clean, but I would probably not go gangbusters on it, the pamor is quite readable, there does not appear to be any excessive active rust, maybe just a good soak in WD40 might be sufficient.

At times I’ve worked over a blade in this sort of condition and picked the rust out of the pitting with a needle, I use a saddlers awl with a fine needle, & under bright light & sometimes magnification.

I cannot see any breaks in the greneng, could you clarify please? Maybe the last bit of greneng in the wadidang is a remnant of a broken piece, but the image is not clear on my screen.

The hilt would be referred to in Bali/Jawa as “pelet” wood : “kayu pelet” & possibly as timoho.

I would give the pamor as ilining warih/banyu mili/air mengalir/flowing water.

One face of the blade has been forged more heavily than the other, & this has resulted in the central part of the pamor on that face as presenting as wusing wutah/ujan baas/beras wutah/beras utah/wos wutah/scattered rice grains, however, ilining warih was clearly intended, so it should be named as the maker intended, rather than as it finished up. It is a not a different pamor on each face, only one side was not as well managed as the other.

In Bali the form (dhapur) of a keris is not as strictly regulated, nor taken note of, as in Jawa, however, I would probably give this keris as Durgam Pinis, luk 11. I cannot translate this name, "durgam" seems to indicate "dangerous" or "immoral" , "pinis" is actually one of the woods used in woodcarvings.

I am naming this dhapur in accordance with present day practice of the most influential Balinese keris literate people, & I would not challenge any other name given by somebody else. In Jawa all this nomenclature thing is pretty much defined , in Bali it is much more relaxed.

[Gustav]

Yes, the first element of Greneng is broken.

As I understand, a sheath of such proportions, with a slender crosspiece, could likely be attributed to Northern Bali.

[A. G. Maisey]

I'm using a decent screen now, & I can see that there is a little stump in the middle of the wadidang, this is a very minor defect and in Bali it would be cleaned up the first time the keris was placed with a m'ranggi for clean & stain.

Yes, that style of sampiran (the top cross piece of the scabbard) is usually attributed to North Bali, specifically Singaraja. The style is called " gegodohan".

However, a camera angle can alter perception, & there is very little difference between some bebatun pohan styles, & this particular gegodohan style, there are several styles of each of these types of sampiran. It can be quite difficult sometimes make a correct judgement from a photo. It is a similar problem with the bebelatungan style, in a photo it is sometimes difficult to differentiate between bebatun pohan & bebelatungan.

[RobT]

A. G. Maisey,
I’m glad my assessment was basically correct. Thanks for the pamor and dhapur info plus the cleaning advice. I think I’ll stick with the WD40 soak.

Gustav,
The Northern Bali info is valuable and I’m glad A. G. Maisey added the name gegodohan. I have another Bali keris with a really narrow sampiran (which means boat and is the Balinese term for the Javanese wranka?). I will post a picture of that keris with this response because I would like to know if it also qualifies as gegodghan and if the hilt can be called cenegan.

Sincerely,
RobT

[A. G. Maisey]

Yes, I believe that in this case WD40 might be the way to go.

Rob, you've addressed a couple of questions to Gustav and I will refrain from providing a response to those questions.

However, I would be interested to learn where you sourced the name "cenegan" & where you heard that "sampiran" means boat, & that it is the Balinese term for a warangka/ wrangka/ wrongko.

[Gustav]

RobT, by "Cenegan" you obviously mean Cenangan. Terminology depends on time and the linguistic/social group, that uses that terminology. My feeling at the moment is, term "Cenangan"could be something of an umbrella term for simpler hilts of related form, and possibly could be not older then 100 years, likely younger. This particular hilt looks quite like a Tapukan which has lost its hair wrapping and subsequently lacquered.

The term Sampiran - do Balinese really use it nowadays? If yes, I doubt, they do for longer then about 30 years at most, as it quite surely comes from peninsular Malay Keris community/English language writers about Keris from Malay states. The boat/ship iconology in the cross piece of sheath is stressed all the time, but word Sampir doesn't have such connotation.

According to Neka the cross piece of this second Keris would be Gegodohan, as Neka in his book seems not to distinguish between Gegodohan and Bebelatungan - he even don't use word Bebelatungan.

I am not sure if the crosspiece and the long part originally belong together, as the proportion seems to be a bit off. But even if it would be so, that's not important.

Alan, what is the difference between Bebatun Pohan and Bebelatungan in your opinion?

[A. G. Maisey]

That response is quite good Gustav. Balinese keris belief systems that surround the keris are not all that easy to come to terms with, but they are similar to Javanese keris belief systems in that they vary somewhat from group to group, so from outside Balinese society the the overall picture is pretty much one of confusion , but inside the society that which we might understand to be so is perhaps only as good as the group from which the information came. Spellings can vary a lot, as can word forms, often at the will of a user, linguists have commented that Javanese is not a standardised language, and the transliteration from the native characters to roman characters only makes things more difficult. In all these languages we need to be fairly forgiving in the way in which a word is spelt.

A book was published in 2017, the copyright of which is held by the Puri Gede Karangasem, the objective of this publication seems to have been to provide in very simple terms some understanding of the Balinese keris from a present day perspective. There were about 20 compilers & authors involved in the production of this book & it was published over the names of Muhammad Bakrin, Toni Junus Kanjeng NgGung, & Wayan Mardita. I am unclear on the actual role of these notables, but I'm guessing that they filled the role of editors.

I am aware of other sources of information in respect of the Balinese keris, & I have used these other sources at various times, my selection of source has depended upon the situation & the need. The source I have drawn upon for my contributions to this particular thread is the book:- "The World of the Balinese Keris", this is the book I have referred to above.

I have done this because the information that is presented in this book is heavily in agreement with the beliefs, usages and attitudes of my own personal friends, associates & informants, and I tend to believe that at this point in time this information could probably be in agreement with the bulk of Balinese people who are keris literate.

I presently believe that the major difference between the bebatun pohan form of sampiran & the bebelatungan form is that bebelatungan form is marginally wider, it widens more towards the tail of the sampiran, & it appears to have a more robust presence than does the bebatun pohan form.

In respect of the word "cenangan", this is an abbreviation of the word "lelocenangan", which comes from the word "lonceng" , which can be understood as "plain" or "simple".

The word "sampiran" is from "sampir", which is a Malay word, but also appears in Javanese & Balinese, in Javanese & Balinese it has the connotation of hanging, and it can also be understood in other ways, dependent upon situation.

This is quite interesting, because the correct name for a keris in Balinese is "Kadutan", which means "something that hangs from the front of the belt", the root is "kadut", which refers to the front section of a belt or sash around the waist. The position that a Balinese keris is normally worn is at the front left. Each position in which the keris is worn has its own name & its own purpose. Yes, the word "sampir" is found in Balinese, & one of its uses is to refer to the top cross section of the keris scabbard.

As you have commented Gustav, the mention of a relationship between the scabbard form & boats is frequently encountered, especially so with the Javanese ladrangan form. Personally, I feel that this is another little bit Western World romance that has crept into some keris belief systems. I have yet to encounter it as an item of belief for anybody I know or have known, in either Jawa or Bali.

However, there does seem to be a boat relationship where one form of Balinese scabbard is concerned, & that form is the kojongan scabbard. A Balinese word for "boat" is "jong", this comes from literary & court usage which is "hejong" & which is higher level usage for the lower level "prau/prahu". If we compare early drawings of Chinese junks with the kojongan profile there is a close similarity in form.

The second keris that Rob has shown us definitely has a gegodahan sampiran, this is evidenced by the presence of the alis kidang, that widengy little curved line just next to where the foot of the sampiran enters the body.

We need to be a little bit cautious with the Neka publication, Mr. Neka himself is a respected authority in Balinese art & a member of the Pande Clan, but the credit for the text in "Keris Bali Bersejarah" probably should go to Basuki Teguh Yuwono, who is Javanese and a noted current authority in the world of the keris. A thorough reading of this book does raise a few questions.

EDIT
After I wrote the above the thought occurred to me that the word "sampir" might have appeared in Old Javanese, so I checked this, & yes, it does, Zoetmulder gives us sampir & some derivatives, including "sampiran" which he has translated as "a rack & other things upon which to hang clothes"(Zoetmulder has used BI), "sampir" he has translated as "syal, slendang" a syal is a shawl or scarf, a slendang has no true translation into English, it is a longish cloth that is worn across one shoulder & used to carry things --- including young children.
So it seems that all the way through several languages, & into antiquity this little word "sampir/sampiran" has had the idea of hanging attached to it. This hanging idea then is expressed in Balinese as "kadutan", which perhaps gives us some idea of how Balinese people have used a euphemism to disguise the true cultural value of the kadutan. This is a very common practice in Javanese keris related matters.When we start looking at little details that relate to the keris --- & maybe this applies to a lot of other things as well --- we can discover that there is much that is hidden from public view.

[Gustav]

Alan, thank you!