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Originally Posted by nechesh
Kiai, i would image one can learn as much about the true history of Jawa from wayang theatre and legeend as one can learn true history of England for the writings of Arthurian legend. Myths and legends serve many great purposes, but i'm afraid accurate and reliable history is not one of them.
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I never said that legend is factual but there are clues there: in Java legend was the way people transmitted history. True history? Hmmmmmm. That is a very novel and Western idea that is foreign to me. Only you Westerners imagine that you can grasp the truth and all the truth and nothing but the truth. Walahualam.
An other legend which cannot be true because it doesn't involve any tangible proof but would be good to mention would be the ancient Ramayana that mentions Lokapala (the spice islands) and also Java. This means that according to the Ramayana there was trade and political relationships between the Indonesian islands and india before the Christian age or any stone buildings were built in Java. We all know that this can not be because Walmiki could have just made it up and the name Java was actually given to the island by Raffles in the early 19'th century because he was writing a book called the history of Java and he needed an island to fit in with it? Pior to Raffles' 'study' there was never a Javanese history was there so that means that there was no Java as well?
I suppose your true history of the keris uses the writings of the racist Chinese monks and Portugese pirates and reliefs on stone temples to support the idea that Indonesians were once demons (as written by the racist monks) and learned about kerises from monkeys so that they could better stab people.
Arthurian legends are not alive now while Javanese legends have had a continous narrative life since the beginning of Javanese memory. I suppose you could actually ask a British man in the street about the Chapel Perilous and he could tell you what it was. Or who was Sir Gawain? On the other hand if you asked a Java man in the street what Kawah Candradimuka is and he would be able to tell you. He will also be able to tell you who owns the arrow Pasopati and who owns the club Rujakpolo.
But then if we learnt about kerises from monkeys I suppose our legends are full of crap as well? Thank you for supporting the notion that monkeys brought the keris to Java.
I am all for supporting the views of Ma Huan about the Javanese being uncouth demons and the Java keris being used to kill at the slightest provocation, if we all agree that racism is part of the kerisology and that of course non Javanese know more about the Javanese than the Javanese themselves! Viva racism! Viva ma Huan! How could Javanese uncouth demons make a beautiful thing like a keris? Impossible! The monkeys must have taught them! That make you happy and feel scientific now?
You must use all threads and narratives and legends and other mentions or depictions of the Java keris to construct an idea of what it was. What the keris is now should also be a consideration. Or were Ma Huans jurnals free of racism and there were really demons in Java when Zeng He sailed the Ming armadas around the world?
Salam keris