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Old 31st July 2017, 01:56 PM   #30
A. G. Maisey
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Join Date: May 2006
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Gustav, let me say at the outset that I respect your right to hold your own opinion in this or in any other matter, and I have no desire to change your opinion:- it is your own: treasure it.

However, I do feel that by introducing aberrant features found upon keris that were made under Islamic influence we are wandering away from the barrier that I set myself at the beginning of this discussion. Quite simply I do not want to extend any of my comments into the era of Islamic influence.

The keris that you have introduced to discussion are keris that were made under Islamic influence. They are North Coast Jawa keris, probably classifiable as Banten, and that removes them from any discussion of the keris as a Javanese Hindu-Buddhist artefact. These keris that you have presented and that you wish to discuss have no place in a discussion of the keris within the Javanese Hindu-Buddhist era.

You tell me that these aberrant keris do not fit my hypothesis, but I have not yet published any hypothesis that deals with keris of this type and era. In fact, this perverted corruption of a religious icon does ideally fit into my unpublished work, but I am not at the present time willing or able to take discussion into this era.

In so far as North Coast Jawa hilts are concerned there is no problem at all in reconciling these figural hilts with the expansion of Islam in Jawa. I'm not going to get into that either, but minimal research on the nature of Islamic expansion in Jawa can clarify this point. This is all in the public arena, its no secret, just a matter of putting in time to find the facts.

I mentioned earlier that I like to think of the end of Majapahit and hence the effective end of the Javanese Hindu-Buddhist socio-religious system as occurring in 1525. I like this date for a number of reasons, but there are other ways to think of the end of that Hindu-Buddhist era. This quote might be useful in putting things into context:-

" Gajahmada died in 1364, and Hayam Wuruk, who had been the ruler of Majapahit during the final 14 years that Gajahmada held the position of mahapatih, died in 1389. After the death of Hayam Wuruk, internal conflict and increasing pressure from the Islamic settlements on the North Coast of Java saw the steady decline and eventual collapse of the Kingdom of Majapahit.

The last ruler of Majapahit, Brawijaya V, converted to Islam in 1478, the remaining members of the Majapahit line established a new kraton at Daha near Kediri, which was conquered by Sultan Trenggana"


They didn't turn the lights out on Majapahit at midnight on 31 December 1525. The Golden Age of Majapahit had been losing its Golden Glow gradually for a very lengthy period. It finally imploded and Demak became dominant. I see the whole thing as a typical royal family squabble, this is a good story, but here is not the place for it.

It is important to understand this:- just because Majapahit was a Hindu-Buddhist kingdom, that does not mean that Islam did not exist within the kingdom and within the court. Islam was present in Majapahit and in positions of power, long before Demak became dominant.

To understand roses it is not sufficient to look at a rose and then generate theories and opinions in respect of the conditions needed to produce that rose. To understand roses we must first understand the soil and the growing conditions. The keris is a flower of Javanese culture.
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