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Old 19th December 2018, 09:06 PM   #35
A. G. Maisey
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Join Date: May 2006
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When we set out to classify a keris blade in terms of its point of origin in either time, or as a geographic location we are getting involved in playing the Tangguh Game. By its very nature, tangguh is opinion, and an opinion in respect of anything at all is formed on the basis of both personal knowledge, gained through experience, and/or generally accepted beliefs which may or may not be fact.

I first heard of tangguh in the 1970's, and in 1974 I had my first lesson in tangguh from a gentleman who was introduced to me as Romo Murdo, he was identified as the person responsible for the maintenance of the tosan aji kept in the Jogjakarta Kraton. I had more lessons from a neighbour of Romo Murdo's whose name was Asikin.

It was 1982 before I received any more solid, dedicated instruction in how to understand tangguh, and that instruction came from Empu Suparman, who continued to teach me until his passing in 1995.

In addition to that which I learnt from these gentlemen I also learnt much about tangguh from Pande Seni Keris Mpu Pauzan Pusposukadgo, who was a good friend from 1974.

My knowledge of tangguh and its application was added to by continuing contact with many other Javanese people who were, and still are, involved with the World of the Keris.

Over time I have formed the opinion that classification of a keris blade in accordance with the parameters of tangguh is totally Jawacentric. It arose because of a social need, and anything that did not contribute to that social need was of no interest to the people who used the tangguh parameters to classify a keris. Thus, keris from places other than Jawa were consistently dismissed as being of little interest or value.

However, in spite of this lack of interest in Jawa for keris that were regarded as "not really keris", tangguh does allow for classification of some keris blades based upon broad geographic area, thus we can classify Bugis, or keris from the Eastern Islands, or keris from the Peninsula. But when it comes to keris from Sumatera, it is as if that island in its entirety is a black hole.

I have never met any person who is regarded as an expert in the culture of the keris who was prepared to designate any particular keris style as being unique to any particular part of Sumatera.

Admittedly, this has changed a little in recent years, and I have been told, but have not personally experienced, that some high level dealers and their accomplices in Jakarta and Surabaya have now established indicators for Tangguh Palembang. I rather suspect that this new knowledge could be commercially driven --- but then, I do admit to being a sceptic.

Palembang has had a continuing political association with other places in S.E.Asia, especially with Central Jawa. This association with Central Jawa dates back to the Pajang era in Jawa when the Palembang Sultanate was controlled by Pajang. In the first quarter of the 19th century the Palembang Sultanate was wiped out by the Dutch, and they established direct rule, so from around 1820 or so there has been no royal guiding influence in Palembang. This lack of an overall societal and cultural guide has resulted in Palembang becoming a trade orientated centre, rather than a culturally orientated centre.

In the way in which the keris is understood in Jawa, this makes the keris from Palembang below consideration as a cultural icon. It is not, and has not been for a very long time something that possesses a similar nature or value to the Javanese keris. The keris from Palembang have no distinctive style that can be identified as being uniquely associated with Palembang.

This is certainly a Javanese attitude, and it may well be at variance with the attitude of the people of Palembang, but the fact remains that the variation in keris blades that can be found in Palembang dress does verify that there is very little consistency in what can be regarded as a keris that has a high probability of having been made in the area of influence of Palembang.

Consider the most famous of all Palembang keris, Si Ginjei, this keris is attributed to Empu Kinom of Mataram. There was some discussion of this keris in this Forum a few years back.

What I was taught, and what my own experience has verified, is that the lack of consistency in keris which supposedly originate from Sumatera, and especially from Palembang, makes it impossible to support a tangguh classification of Palembang, or of any other place in Sumatera, based upon indicators that have more or less definite parameters.

Palembang keris dress we can identify with a high probability of accuracy.

Palembang - made keris blades are not subject to probability, but only to possibility.
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