[A. G. Maisey]

This thread was opened with an enquiry about one type of iron (besi, wesi) wesi pulen. At the time it was opened, I was away from home, and was writing from memory, as I had no access to reference material, thus, my comments were rather superficial.

But I'm home now.

I actually have quite a lot of material that deals with the various types of iron that have been traditionally recognised by Javanese keris literate people. I have copies of everything on keris that can be found in the library of the Mangkunegaraan, I have copies of all the printed manuscripts that have been made available to Karaton Surakarta empus since the time of PBIX, I have copies of a good number of booklets that were published in Jawa in late colonial times, and I have the personal notebooks of some Solo based collectors, a couple of whom began their collecting before WWII. Of course, I have my own note books compiled over a 50 year period.

I've got far too much material to make everything that I have on iron, available here, however, I have selected one booklet that is named simply "WESI AJI". The attribution is ultimately to Empu Ramadi, it was printed in Solo in 1928.

Here is a listing of iron types:-
1) wesi karang kijang
2) wesi pulosani & karindhu aji
3) wesi mangangkang
4) wesi walulin
5) wesi katub
6) wesi kamboja
7) wesi ambal
8) wesi windu aji
9) wesi tumpang
10) wesi werani
11) wesi welangi
12) wesi terate
13) wesi malela ruyun
14) wesi malela kendaga
15) wesi kenur
16) wesi tumbuk
17) wesi balitung
16) wesi malik
17) mangangkang wadon
18) wesi windu hadi

Following this listing of primary iron types, there is a further listing of what happens when two or more of these primary types are mixed together, which in all cases creates a new iron type that must be avoided because these new iron types are no good, and additionally have a bad character that will be transferred to anything made from that iron. There are at least 11 examples of this "bad" iron.

After this second listing of "bad" irons, there is an explanation of the character and tuah of various irons.

Then we have a listing of a further 11 irons that result from the mixing of already listed primary irons, plus a couple of additional irons. This second list of mixed irons identifies irons that are universally "good" and of a harmonious character.

At the conclusion of this booklet there is a listing of irons that has been taken from the Kitab Jitapsoro (Sanghyang Nurroso):-
1) wesi wuriyan
2) wesi karangkijang (already listed from Empu Ramadi, but with a variation in description)
3) wesi jarimanten
4) wesi curandhamas
5) wesi danar/selipan/sesamad
6) wesi boji/rebeng
7) wesi kucur/menur perak
8) wesi grasak/tapel
9) garingsing/melik/pelikan

We then have an explanation of "bad" irons that are permissible for use for an explicit purpose, at this point the text becomes very confused and repetitive, with additional irons thrown into the mix.

The descriptions of the irons cover various ways in which they can be identified, including colour, feel, sound, it tells how and where they originate, their good and bad characteristics & etc & etc & etc.

This is just one little booklet written based upon keris belief in Solo nearly 100 years ago.

The problem with any identification of iron that is based upon the supposed attributes of an iron, is that those attributes can and do change depending upon the way in which the iron has been treated and the physical size of the piece.

Then there is the variation in beliefs held by one group of people as compared with other groups of people.

You may have noticed that wesi pulen does not get a mention in this booklet, which draws upon two older sources.However, if I read through the characteristics and identifiers of some of the listed iron types, there are several that could agree with the characteristics and identifiers used for wesi pulen.

Moving away from old sources, we can fast forward to a little booklet that was written by Suwarsono Lumintu, who is in Jogjakarta a highly regarded keris authority, he published a little booklet :- "Besi, Baja dan Pamor Keris" in 1985. He lists 17 types of iron that are considered to be "good", 6 types that are considered to be "bad", then he lists irons that when mixed with other irons are "good" --- 21 types, and "bad", 11 types.

He mentions the Kitab Jitapsoro, and lists 10 types of iron from that.

The great poet Ronggowarsito also gets a mention, and a further 44 iron types get a mention, but not all by a name, many in this Ronggowarsito list are by description only.

It seems to me that perhaps Lumintu used either the 1928 booklet, or some other similar booklet that drew upon the same original sources.

But I cannot find mention of wesi pulen. Frankly, I do not know when I first heard the term "wesi pulen", but I'm guessing it was from a dealer. My gut feeling is that it is a comparatively recent term to be applied to keris iron, because "pulen" is normally used to describe rice that sticks together, or a smooth dough, so it is really a description, rather than the name of a type, and used to describe an iron type, it becomes very clear exactly what characteristics you are looking for in an iron if you want to describe it as "wesi pulen".