Hi Everyone,
I just learned from some articles that some Javanese believe certain krisses carry with them "wahyu" or divine mandate (loosely translated). Feel free to correct me if I perceive this wrong. Roughly it's like this: A kris or tombak can carry with it some divine (or otherwordly) will to perform certain "mission" for a possessing individual or a society in general.
I have heard of certain krisses in Bali being displayed in some temples and people pray - either to the krisses or simply in front of them. I don't know precisely because I don't practice such belief system. The individual or institution in charge of safekeeping these tosan aji's often say that the the objects (or rather their inhabitants) were assigned the task of maintaining the well being of a specific community, say Banjar X. Now sometimes Banjar Y would come over and borrow the pusaka for a while due to a specific need, and presumably they would return the objects later (they better do - Banjar fights occasionally happen here
). Again, please state if you have different opinions - I am merely repeating what a friend said.
Back to my question - are there similar phenomenon in other cultures? To my extent of knowledge, there are no specific temple in China in which a jian or dao is displayed (or kept in a certain sanctuary), given a name, and being told, 'hey you, you are the protector or caretaker of such and such village". I heard that the Japanese kept certain swords in shrines, but I'm not sure if they have similar belief systems regarding the spirits in the sword and their roles.
What do you guys think?