I am not sure that the prohibition against commoners wearing gold extended to places like Jawa, Bali and Sumatra, at least not as a general rule. Perhaps someone has more information on these areas. It is also certainly known that gold kinatah could could be awarded to certain people such as valiant warriors for their deeds.
I completely agree with Dave Henkel on some of the over use of "garish" materials on new keris that anyone with the money can own. I especially see this on Bali style keris dressed in gads of gold and gemstones. That said, however, i think we can still see many old examples of keris with kinatah that were not necessarily once the property of members of the royal court, at least outside Malay Peninsula influence.
|