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Old 22nd March 2019, 02:09 PM   #14
A. G. Maisey
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Join Date: May 2006
Posts: 6,700
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Jean, I do not doubt for one moment that the name "capil" is used by some people to refer to this type of wrongko, however, I know for a fact that the man I bought it from, who was an ordinary village person in Madura did not know of any special name for this type of wrongko.

The plain simple fact of names attached to not only keris, but other things too, in Jawa, is that somebody can use a name that others like,for something and then other people will use it, and it eventually becomes the common name.

Back in the late 1980's I was in one of my supplier's warungs in Pasar Triwindu, I'd bought some items, including a few keris. The pamor on one of the keris was very nicely done, but it was a bit of a puzzle, I did not know the name, my langganan did not know the name, nobody around had a name for it. So somebody suggested that I should give it a name. I gave that pamor the name "Tirto Tejo" = "Sparkling Water". Ok, end of part one.

A couple of years later I encountered the same pamor again this time with a different seller, somebody I did not know well. I asked him what the name of the pamor was. He told me it was called "Tirto Tejo" and that it was a very rare and very valuable royal pamor --- all of which was pure bumbu, because it was new pamor out of Aeng Tong-Tong, that I had seen for the first time a couple of years previous, and that I had named.

The fact of the matter is that dealers invent a lot of the treasured names that people love to write in their collection notes. Very, very often the people who wear keris don't even know the genuine traditional names for pamors, dhapurs, or dress parts.If somebody wants a name for something, they will give it a name. If somebody wants to know something, they will give the answer that they believe the questioner wants to hear. This is Jawa we're talking about Jean, not London,Paris, or New York City.

Jean, any keris that a person regards as his keris should only be shown to another person subject to certain restrictions. These restrictions very definitely apply to me, but to you and other collectors who are outside the culture of the keris the restrictions do not apply. When I was accepted for training by Empu Suparman I lost a lot of the freedoms that I might otherwise have had. I have certain committments to fulfil, certain obligations and a very strict code of ethics. These things do not apply to you.
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