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A. G. Maisey · 20th January 2023, 09:56 PM

I think you might be part right Rasdan.

I do not think it is possible to teach somebody how to gauge a personality that is in balance with one's own personality, I think that is something we probably have from birth, or maybe learn as we grow up.

I was taught that wanda is about the personality of a keris and you can only feel it, but I really don't know what it is that makes some keris feel nice and comfortable and like a companion, and others you just want to get back into the wrongko ASAP and put away.

I have no clue at all why we have these different feelings. I guess it might be from an impression formed by the way a keris might look, and then that generates the feeling. Maybe. Or it might be from the feeling you sometimes get when you handle a particular keris.

Anyway, whatever it is, it is personality of the keris, and personality is a characteristic that we cannot see, only feel.

Maybe this "feeling" thing is universal with all living things, have you ever noticed how animals, for example, dogs can be attracted to one person but not another? Obviously the dogs can feel something that is in harmony with their own spirit, and this can vary, dog to dog, & person to person.

Incidentally.

If we look at the dictionary meaning of "wanda" it is the exact opposite of what I was taught and what I have written here.

"wanda" is actually literary language, Kawi, in Kawi it means the body of something (awak) or the form of something (dhapur).

some keris people use "wanda" to refer to the shape of a keris hilt

I do not know why this should be, but what I do know is that the way I have explained it is the way it was understood relative to keris, by the keris elites in Solo during the 1980's & 1990's.

In respect of "pawakan" it is a very commonly used word, it normally refers to a person, and the overall impression of his or her body:- fat, skinny, sexy, lopsided or whatever, however, although I have access to 5 or 6 Javanese dictionaries I can find it in only one of these dictionaries, a fairly recent one, if I ask a native speaker of Javanese in Solo if it is a Javanese or Indonesian word, the response I get is that it is both, but "pawakan" does not appear in Indonesian dictionaries nor Malay.

I sometimes feel that as with a lot of keris words and meanings, my own understandings are decidedly old time Solo, and not necessarily general.

20th January 2023, 09:56 PM	#28
A. G. Maisey Member Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 6,703	I think you might be part right Rasdan. I do not think it is possible to teach somebody how to gauge a personality that is in balance with one's own personality, I think that is something we probably have from birth, or maybe learn as we grow up. I was taught that wanda is about the personality of a keris and you can only feel it, but I really don't know what it is that makes some keris feel nice and comfortable and like a companion, and others you just want to get back into the wrongko ASAP and put away. I have no clue at all why we have these different feelings. I guess it might be from an impression formed by the way a keris might look, and then that generates the feeling. Maybe. Or it might be from the feeling you sometimes get when you handle a particular keris. Anyway, whatever it is, it is personality of the keris, and personality is a characteristic that we cannot see, only feel. Maybe this "feeling" thing is universal with all living things, have you ever noticed how animals, for example, dogs can be attracted to one person but not another? Obviously the dogs can feel something that is in harmony with their own spirit, and this can vary, dog to dog, & person to person. Incidentally. If we look at the dictionary meaning of "wanda" it is the exact opposite of what I was taught and what I have written here. "wanda" is actually literary language, Kawi, in Kawi it means the body of something (awak) or the form of something (dhapur). some keris people use "wanda" to refer to the shape of a keris hilt I do not know why this should be, but what I do know is that the way I have explained it is the way it was understood relative to keris, by the keris elites in Solo during the 1980's & 1990's. In respect of "pawakan" it is a very commonly used word, it normally refers to a person, and the overall impression of his or her body:- fat, skinny, sexy, lopsided or whatever, however, although I have access to 5 or 6 Javanese dictionaries I can find it in only one of these dictionaries, a fairly recent one, if I ask a native speaker of Javanese in Solo if it is a Javanese or Indonesian word, the response I get is that it is both, but "pawakan" does not appear in Indonesian dictionaries nor Malay. I sometimes feel that as with a lot of keris words and meanings, my own understandings are decidedly old time Solo, and not necessarily general.