[A. G. Maisey]

Jean, it is true that the standard of fitting wilah to wrongko requires the sirah cecak and the buntut urang to be level with the top of the gambar mouth, however, this is a Central Javanese kraton standard, it was not and is not a standard that applied widely across all areas that had the keris as a part of their culture.

In pre-puputan Bali it seems that it was acceptable to fit blades in a style that permitted at least a part of the gonjo to project above the gambar. If this keris under discussion did have a gonjo I suggest that fitting would be completely in accordance with the old Balinese standard.

In very old Javanese keris that have fittings made for the blade, that blade will often sit proud of the gambar. Of course, it often sits well below the top of the gambar too, because of shrinkage of the wood. When the wrongko shrinks and allows the blade to sink too low, the benchmark repair is to line the mouth of the wrongko with another piece of wood, as can be seen in this Balinese ensemble. In Jawa this is called "numbeng wayang", or "numbeng topengan".

The inside of a gandar becomes worn with the passing of time, as it wears the wear pattern can cause the blade to sit off-square with the top of the gambar, and just as the inside of the gandar can wear and cause poor fit, so can the mouth of the wrongko.

Amongst the common people in both Bali and Jawa very little, if any, attention is paid to the standards that elites have set for themselves. A person who ranks highly in a kraton hierarchy, or a member of the social elite outside of kraton society may possibly know of the correct standards that apply to the fit of a blade to a wrongko, and may insist on this for a newly fitted blade, however, most people, even amongst the elites, are not really so knowledgeable.

The way it was once explained to me drew an analogy between the wilah (masculine) and the wrongko (feminine):-

in a new marriage between young partners the expectation is that after a settling period they will fit together perfectly, however, as time passes they will often draw apart and the perfection of a new mating will become a matter of mutual accommodation because it is more convenient for both to accommodate rather than separate. If the man in a partnership needs to take a new wife, especially one who has been previously married, he will tolerate her flaws provided they are not too extreme, as almost any partner, even one who does not fit too well, is better than no partner at all, the woman in such an imperfect partnership will tolerate the man because without a man she is nothing and will simply be thrown on the scrap heap.

Once again we can see the relationship between keris and wrongko and man and woman. The two together symbolise society and in turn, all in creation:- one needs the other for harmony to prevail.

So, we can look at this Bali keris and we can see a less than perfect mating of blade to wrongko, but can we legitimately comment that this less than perfect mating is because of poor work by the person who fitted the blade to the wrongko?

My position would be that we do not know the reason why there is less than perfect alignment of the blade with the top of the wrongko, and even if we did know the precise reason, is it at all relevant?

Should we apply seemingly recent standards set by Central Javanese elites to a Balinese keris that does not give the impression of being particularly elitist one?