A wife is not the same as a concubine.
Depending upon the the social position of the man,the rank of the wife, and the language used, there are a number of possible names for wives and for concubines. It would serve no purpose to list them all here.
In a Javanese traditional situation of a man having four wives, the first wife is taken from a suitable level of status and is the mother of the heir to the father. The heir will be the first born son of the first wife, but the first wife need not necessarily be the first wife who is married, she could well be the second, third, or even fourth wife married.
Concubines hold a lower status than wives and cannot provide an heir, however in rare cases a man may name a son from a concubine to be his heir.
Not only is the heir not able to be produced from a concubine, except if the father designates him as heir, but concubines do not necessarily need to provide a political or business alliance. The function of the first wife is not only to produce the legitimate heir, but also the political or business alliance obtained by this marriage is expected to be the most important. The other three primary wives, and many of the concubines will also provide political or business alliances, however, a concubine need not necessarily provide a political or business alliance.
Immense problems of succession can arise when a man fails to name one of his wives as his first wife, or if he fails to name his first born son from his first wife as his legitimate heir, or if he names a son other than the first born son from the first wife as his legitimate heir.
The status of wives, concubines and heirs can be a matter of concern in not only royal families, but also in noble and aristocratic families, and in powerful business families. It is not of such great concern in families of lower status and in the modern day where most men have only a single wife, it is obviously of no concern. However, I have been informed that in some rural areas where it is necessary for a farmer to take more than one wife in order to comply with traditional maritial practices following birth of a child, and in order to have sufficient assistance to run his farm, the position of first wife is as highly regarded as in a royal or aristocratic situation.
Against this background, it will be understood that a man's keris should not be used to represent him in his marriage to his official first wife.
The keris may be used in the case of lesser marriages but would normally only be used in the case of extreme necessity preventing the man from attending his wedding. Such necessity could be something such as the man be absent at war.
But in the case of the taking of a concubine the use of the keris to represent the man is completely acceptable.
In this circumstance, the function of the keris is to validate the words spoken on behalf of the absent bridegroom. In a modern day situation that validation is more often provided by a letter of authority.
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