Mr Maisey, of course i absolutely agree with you about the jawa perspective about jawa keris and it's pre islamic origin and culture. however several hundred years is a fairly long time and non jawa keris culture has evolved within this time into their very own unique culture and tradition. and one can not deny that it is and can be regarded as a genuine keris culture and not merely some form of imported culture based on secular commercial values . i can say for a fact that for patani and malay kingdom keris is similarly imbued with mystical philosophies -albeit islamic ones- as much as pre islamic jawa keris is imbued with hindu influences. and even now sultans and kings of Malaysia (and patani previously) have their own local keris heirlooms.
As much as jawa keris aficianados consider jawa keris as the real deal malays in peninsula malaysia don't give much value to that and they only value thier own keris more... hence for example one can be very hard pressed to sell even a very good jawa keris with v nice pamor and warangan in malaysia or patani (southern thailand) as much as one can't find any one in jawa willing to buy malay keris...
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