Ethnographic Arms & Armour - View Single Post

A. G. Maisey · 6th May 2007, 10:47 PM

G'day Raden.

I am not Javanese. I am a 66 year old Australian, a risk and audit professional, and strongly nationalistic.

I also have studied the art, history, society and culture of Jawa for over 50 years, I have studied the keris specifically for almost as long, I have spent time in Jawa most years since the 1960's, my wife is from Jawa and I am the pupil of Empu Suparman Supawijaya (Alm.)

I will not present an opinion in the matter you have raised, but I will briefly outline several situations for your consideration.

My son-in-law is from an old Solo priyayi family.His brother-in-law is an engineer, recently retired. My son-in-law's sister died immediately after her husband retired. The husband then searched around for something to fill his time, and he discovered keris. Prior to this he had shown no interest at all in keris.He joined a keris discussion club, and within the space of about 7 or 8 years has put together a collection of about 60 or so keris.He has these keris sorted into two classifications:- one lot of keris were previously owned by kyai-kyai, the other lot of keris were previously owned by pangeran-pangeran. He discovered who had previously owned these keris by meditation and dreaming. A few of these keris contain powerful entities which assist him in various ways. Again, the existence of these entities was revealed by meditation and dreaming.It is of interest to note that several of the keris that have previously belonged to kyai, or pangeran, or that contain powerful entities, are current era production from Madura.

Over the years I have been given a number of keris. Several of these keris were given to me when I agreed to accept them from the previous owners after they had been advised to get rid of these keris because they were causing misfortune , or were evil. In one case several violent deaths were attributed to one of these keris, in another case several failed businesses were attributed to the keris. I think the number of "evil" keris that I currently hold is somewhere in the order of 8 or 10 keris. I have never suffered any misfortunes or ill luck during the period I have held these keris, that I could not put down to my own stupidity, or lack of preparation and planning.

I know of two instances of keris that were bought in a normal market transaction by a dukun (actually two separate dukuns) and that after suitable preparation of a provenance in one case, and a stage setting in the other were onsold to the dukuns' clients as powerful talismans. Until today one of the people who recieved this powerful keris still has absolute faith in the power of this keris to protect his house from misfortune.

I have attended an event in company with a number of Javanese people where a man changed himself into a tiger. All the Javanese people saw this happen. I only saw a man who began to behave like a tiger. It was explained to me that I could not see the tiger because the spirit of the tiger did not want to reveal itself to me.

Now, on the other hand I have heard a toke talking when people with me heard only the sound of the toke.

I have had some keris and tombak given to me after a woman was visited by her dead husband in a dream, told where to find these keris and tombak and how to dispose of them.

I know of instances where somebody has known of things happening in another place, and told of it, long before finding out that those things did in fact happen.

I am not a non-believer in the paranormal, but in any case where it appears that something paranormal does exist it is perhaps as well to consider all factors associated with this paranormal event before accepting that the event has been generated by factors or elements that cannot be traced to a human source.

6th May 2007, 10:47 PM	#2
A. G. Maisey Member Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 6,704	G'day Raden. I am not Javanese. I am a 66 year old Australian, a risk and audit professional, and strongly nationalistic. I also have studied the art, history, society and culture of Jawa for over 50 years, I have studied the keris specifically for almost as long, I have spent time in Jawa most years since the 1960's, my wife is from Jawa and I am the pupil of Empu Suparman Supawijaya (Alm.) I will not present an opinion in the matter you have raised, but I will briefly outline several situations for your consideration. My son-in-law is from an old Solo priyayi family.His brother-in-law is an engineer, recently retired. My son-in-law's sister died immediately after her husband retired. The husband then searched around for something to fill his time, and he discovered keris. Prior to this he had shown no interest at all in keris.He joined a keris discussion club, and within the space of about 7 or 8 years has put together a collection of about 60 or so keris.He has these keris sorted into two classifications:- one lot of keris were previously owned by kyai-kyai, the other lot of keris were previously owned by pangeran-pangeran. He discovered who had previously owned these keris by meditation and dreaming. A few of these keris contain powerful entities which assist him in various ways. Again, the existence of these entities was revealed by meditation and dreaming.It is of interest to note that several of the keris that have previously belonged to kyai, or pangeran, or that contain powerful entities, are current era production from Madura. Over the years I have been given a number of keris. Several of these keris were given to me when I agreed to accept them from the previous owners after they had been advised to get rid of these keris because they were causing misfortune , or were evil. In one case several violent deaths were attributed to one of these keris, in another case several failed businesses were attributed to the keris. I think the number of "evil" keris that I currently hold is somewhere in the order of 8 or 10 keris. I have never suffered any misfortunes or ill luck during the period I have held these keris, that I could not put down to my own stupidity, or lack of preparation and planning. I know of two instances of keris that were bought in a normal market transaction by a dukun (actually two separate dukuns) and that after suitable preparation of a provenance in one case, and a stage setting in the other were onsold to the dukuns' clients as powerful talismans. Until today one of the people who recieved this powerful keris still has absolute faith in the power of this keris to protect his house from misfortune. I have attended an event in company with a number of Javanese people where a man changed himself into a tiger. All the Javanese people saw this happen. I only saw a man who began to behave like a tiger. It was explained to me that I could not see the tiger because the spirit of the tiger did not want to reveal itself to me. Now, on the other hand I have heard a toke talking when people with me heard only the sound of the toke. I have had some keris and tombak given to me after a woman was visited by her dead husband in a dream, told where to find these keris and tombak and how to dispose of them. I know of instances where somebody has known of things happening in another place, and told of it, long before finding out that those things did in fact happen. I am not a non-believer in the paranormal, but in any case where it appears that something paranormal does exist it is perhaps as well to consider all factors associated with this paranormal event before accepting that the event has been generated by factors or elements that cannot be traced to a human source.