[A. G. Maisey]

I thought the abomination and insult line would draw a bit of flak.
I'll try to explain.

My principal education in keris came from a Javanese gentleman who began his own education in keris in the 1930's. This was Empu Suparman of the Karaton Surakarta. What I learnt from him was supplemented by input from his friends of a similar age, and from one other Karaton Empu, Pauzan Pusposukadgo. Then there was input from a number of craftsmen, notably from two m'ranggis, both descendants of the same extended family of keris craftsmen. What I learnt from all these people was further supplemented by my own research, which is ongoing and covers a much wider field than is addressed by the knowledgeable people of Surakarta.

Amongst the people from whom I have learnt in Central Jawa there was an overarching attitude that the keris was not only representative of a man, but was in many ways similar to a man, and in the appraisal of a keris, it was always advisable to keep the idea of a man in your head, and to measure the elegance, or otherwise, of the keris against that image of the man. Thus, if a keris is too upright, it carries the connotation of arrogance and clumsiness, if it is too bent forward it carries the connotation of being too humble and in danger of falling. All the other physical proportions and angles of the keris can be assessed in this way, by using the image held the mind of a man who gives respect to his lord, but who is at the same time brave and has integrity.

Underlying this artistic interpretation there is another measure that is used, and that is the understanding that the keris is a representation of the dominant Javanese icon of the Gunungan. The Gunungan is present in many places and in many forms in Javanese culture, and its origin goes back to the time prior to the beginning of Hindu influence upon Javanese culture and society. In indigenous Javanese thought, the Gunungan is representative of the idea of the mountain, and The Mountain is where the ancestors abide whilst waiting to either return to earth in a new form, or to join as one with their God. The Gods also dwell on the Mountain, and in Hindu belief, which influenced Javanese culture from after 200CE through to the domination of Jawa by Islam after the collapse of Majapahit, and in a degree, continuing until today, that Mountain was not just any mountain, but Mount Meru, the home of the Gods.

The symbolism of Mount Meru also appears in Javanese, and in Balinese culture in multiple forms, but principally in the roofs of Balinese shrines and cremation towers where the number of layers in the roof of the shrine indicates the status of the God to whom the shrine is dedicated, or the status of the person for whom the cremation tower has been built.

The maximum number of roof layers that a shrine may have is 11, and this is indicative of a shrine built for Siwa; the maximum number of roof layers that a cremation tower may have is 11, and this is indicative of cremation tower for a ruler.

So, both the keris and the meru are representations of Mount Meru, the dwelling place of the Gods, and the place where the ancestors wait. Both are sacred, and are subject to the same rules of respect.

In Jawa today, and probably dating from the time of Islamic domination of Jawa, it is held that the maximum number of luk a correctly made keris can have is 13, any more than this is an indication of a keris made for somebody who is non-conformist to the rules of society, such as an artist, or a dukun, or a seer. This number of 13 is arrived at by a generally accepted convention of count that invariably adds two luk to the number of luk that were actually put into the keris by the maker. Thus, the "correct" keris with 13 luk is in fact a "correct" keris with 11 luk, this number of 11 being in conformity with the maximum number of roof layers for a meru, and indicative of a level of status.

The keris originated in Jawa during the Early Classical Period, and it emerged in its modern form during the Late Classical Period. It was exported from Jawa to many other places in SE Asia, both as gifts, often royal gifts, and as items of trade. However, the Javanese understanding of the keris was not exported to these other places along with the physical object. This is probably the reason why Javanese keris pundits are reluctant to accept keris from places other than Jawa and Bali as genuine keris, regarding keris from, for example, Peninsula Malaya as merely imitations of the keris, not genuine keris.

In the understanding of the people who gave birth to the keris, the keris is a sacred cultural icon, something that relates to the ancestors, and to the Gods, and is symbolic of both.

So, if I call a poorly proportioned, stiff, visually unsettling keris blade with more luk than a tree has leaves an "abomination and an insult", what I am actually saying is that it indicates that the person who made it, and probably the person who ordered it made, had absolutely no understanding at all of the sacred nature of the keris, and that the production and existence of such a keris is an insult to all those people, both past and present who do understand the religious and cultural implications of the keris.