Pak Ganja, in so far as your remarks in respect of Javanese oral tradition, you are stating the obvious. I believe that all people with any interest at all in the keris and things Javanese would be aware of this.
The nature of oral tradition is that it is recitation of belief, not recitation of fact. Beliefs in any community change with the passing of time and in accordance with those external factors which impact upon the society which is host to the oral tradition. Because of this, when the oral tradition finally gets written down, perhaps 500 years after the point in time when it originated, it reflects not the original event or belief that gave rise to it, but rather, the cumulative effect of all influences upon that oral tradition, since its point of origin in time.
Oral traditions grow and develop and dependent upon the social environment in which they exist, can serve valuable social functions of moderating, controlling, teaching, the people who hear those traditions. Since the needs of a community are seldom fixed, but vary according to many factors, the oral traditions change to serve the needs of the community.
The nature of an oral tradition is that it is a tool that serves the community.
Thus, what we see in a 1935 (for example) record of the oral tradition is the 1935 version of that tradition, not the 1435 version of it.And most certainly not the record of facts that gave rise to that original 1435 version.
I am not discounting the value of the beliefs recorded in written versions of these beliefs, be they from whatever year, but I am saying that the value they possess is as a tool for the measurement and analysis of the beliefs of people at the time when the belief is written down. They are of little value in measurement and analysis of the beliefs of the people who lived at the time when the oral tradition originated.
As to the difference between Javanese and western traditions, either oral or written, this is a superficial difference in perception only. Western traditions and beliefs are manipulated and changed constantly, once again, in accordance with the needs of a community, or perhaps only the perceived needs of a community.
The thing that we must keep uppermost in our minds at all times when discussing the keris, is that it is a cultural icon that is subject to a variety of beliefs and belief systems.
Including the belief that "keris knowledge" was often the possession of a single person.
Yes, I agree totally, it was often the possession of a single person--- provided one believes so.
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