Ethnographic Arms & Armour - View Single Post - What is the equivalent of "Wahyu" in other cultures?

Gustav · 30th October 2009, 11:54 PM

Dear All,

some citations from "Court arts from Indonesia":

In extended analyses of the nature of power, which pervades both the material and nonmaterial world in Indonesian belief, one aspect emerges clearly: power is paradoxical. The more it is exercised or needs to be demonstrated, the less effective it is; perceptibility diminishes its substance, knowledge of it implies control. Anderson's much-quoted definition is so apt that it bears repetition:

"Power exists, independent of its possible users. It is not a theoretical postulate but an existential reality. Power is that intangible, mysterious and divine energy which animates the universe... In Javanese traditional thinking there is no sharp division between organic and inorganic matter, for everything is sustained by the same inwisible power. This conception of the entire cosmos being suffused by formless, constantly creative energy provides the basic link between the "animism" of the Javanese willages and the high metaphysical pantheism of the urban centers"
(page 84)

The invincibility of and unquestionable rights to absolute royal power, familiar to students of the theory of the divine right of kings in the west, achieve their ultimate fulfillment in WAHYU. This sign of supernatural power was usually manifested by a glowing light and left the body on death. In some cases a princess with a "flaming womb" was perceiwed as the mother of kings; Ken Angrok, first king of Singasari (1222-27), was adwised to marry Ken Dedes because her flaming womb guaranteed a line of monarchs. In a second case, tailored to legitimize the power of the Dutch, a princess with a flaming womb was sold to a Dutchman whose descendents thereby acquired legitimacy in Java. In a different version, the WAHYU of Amangkurat II (1677-1703) was said at his death to have taken the form of a grain of light on his penis. Perceived and drawn in by his nephew Prince Puger, manifestation of the WAHYU and its posession eventually confirmed Puger as Pakubuwono I (1705-19) over the direct claims of his cousin, Amangkurat III (1703-05).

(page 88)

What interests me in this subject is, were it possible to see Keris as a form of a body?, which bears a power, I mean also possibly a human body?

30th October 2009, 11:54 PM	#12
Gustav Member Join Date: Jun 2009 Posts: 1,196	Dear All, some citations from "Court arts from Indonesia": In extended analyses of the nature of power, which pervades both the material and nonmaterial world in Indonesian belief, one aspect emerges clearly: power is paradoxical. The more it is exercised or needs to be demonstrated, the less effective it is; perceptibility diminishes its substance, knowledge of it implies control. Anderson's much-quoted definition is so apt that it bears repetition: "Power exists, independent of its possible users. It is not a theoretical postulate but an existential reality. Power is that intangible, mysterious and divine energy which animates the universe... In Javanese traditional thinking there is no sharp division between organic and inorganic matter, for everything is sustained by the same inwisible power. This conception of the entire cosmos being suffused by formless, constantly creative energy provides the basic link between the "animism" of the Javanese willages and the high metaphysical pantheism of the urban centers" (page 84) The invincibility of and unquestionable rights to absolute royal power, familiar to students of the theory of the divine right of kings in the west, achieve their ultimate fulfillment in WAHYU. This sign of supernatural power was usually manifested by a glowing light and left the body on death. In some cases a princess with a "flaming womb" was perceiwed as the mother of kings; Ken Angrok, first king of Singasari (1222-27), was adwised to marry Ken Dedes because her flaming womb guaranteed a line of monarchs. In a second case, tailored to legitimize the power of the Dutch, a princess with a flaming womb was sold to a Dutchman whose descendents thereby acquired legitimacy in Java. In a different version, the WAHYU of Amangkurat II (1677-1703) was said at his death to have taken the form of a grain of light on his penis. Perceived and drawn in by his nephew Prince Puger, manifestation of the WAHYU and its posession eventually confirmed Puger as Pakubuwono I (1705-19) over the direct claims of his cousin, Amangkurat III (1703-05). (page 88) What interests me in this subject is, were it possible to see Keris as a form of a body?, which bears a power, I mean also possibly a human body?