[Alam Shah]

Originally Posted by guwaya

Besides the general question, how a wedding keris in general, independently from the area of its origin, has to look like - what are the criteria that make him to a [B]wedding keris, declared as such from a member of an outside culture without any further background information - particular in the case of this here presented keris from Toradja(?) land with its quality as it is, it would be of greatest interest for me to receive the facts upon which this attribution can be done.

guwaya

Hi guwaya,

Since you've been to these lands, perhaps you could enlighten us, members of the outside culture..

For some information, an interesting book to read-up, "Southeast Asia: A historical encyclopedia, from Angkor Wat to East Timor - vol. 2" edited by Keat Gin Ooi. In page 881-883, reference from Zerner's 1977-1978 fieldworks, it is mentioned that Toraja iron smiths used plugs of metal from old railroad ties and Land Rover shocks and springs. Much earlier irons sources were open pit mines in Seko to the northeast. trade for iron ore and nickelous iron with the Palopo region (a vassal state of the Luwu kingdom) was also important. The Toraja highlanders had extensive trade relationships with the coastal Muslim states, and the prestige of goods from "far off Java" (batik, keris) was also a key part of Toraja political status systems. Seko smiths used forge and pattern welding techniques also employed in creating Javanese keris. Seko forgers' ability to produce decorative nerve patterns on sword blades by forge-welding nickelous iron to iron sponges was greatly admired by Toraja smiths, Zerner reports. Surface patterning was highly valued in Toraja aesthetics, extending even to their regard for dappled water buffalo.

In the 1970s the Toraja forge consists of an open-air fireplace banked on three sides with rock walls. Zerner reports that the smith, the bellow pumper, and the hammerer worked together in a kind of rhymatic dance, and "the air itself tastes of smoke and iron, steam and charcoal". Cool water and citrus juice solutions were used to moderate the red heat of the forged metal, as it is shaped into plow blades, ax heads, rice-cutting tools and ceremonial swords. The latter were loci of power and mnemonics for creation myths.

Zerner terms Toraja iron forging "a generative idiom". Puang Matua, the creator ancestor, "forged the heavens, forged the earth, forged the ancestor of the earth, called Patala Bunga, forged the ancestor of cool water, called Patala Merang, forged the ancestor of fire, called Patala Lamma, forged the ancestor of mankind, called Datu Laukku," in the words of the Mount Sesean tominaa priest Tandi Datu. Human iron smiths take on extraordinary qualities given their heirship to these world creation powers. Tominaa consecrate the implements on ironworking (a new forge, for instance) and, given the crucial role of iron-tipped tools and weapons...

Ancestral swords, forged elsewhere in places like Seko and Palopo, were costly and part of inalienable house treasures. Pong Sirintik from Seko, the mythical master smith, "see the mother of iron" and is regarded with special respect because he controls life's animate forces and forges a tool or weapon from them. This allies him with the 'deata' spirits' control of the land and with (in premodern times) the Toraja aristocrats' ownership of slaves..

.. for more info, do refer to the book..