Opinions please

[A. G. Maisey]

Thanks for your contribution Jean.

The thrust of my question concerns :-

"--- the effect that external forces may have had upon the Javanese cultural perception of the keris in Java. "

In other words I am seeking opinions about how outside influences may have affected or contributed to the way in which the Javanese regarded the Javanese keris.

We can identify many purely physical contributions, contributions that are also seen in the wider field of Javanese art and culture, one very obvious example can be used to illustrate this, the way in which the singo barong is rendered. The singo barong is seen as a lion, on a keris it possibly carries association with a warrior, and this association is in a direct line from Hindu culture, however, there are no lions in Jawa, so when it came time to produce an image of a lion, the Javanese drew upon Chinese representations of a lion, and now we have these pretty little fu-dog lions that in Javanese understanding can be interpreted as lions. A combination of Hindu + Chinese input to Javanese artistic expression.

Alternatively, maybe the entire interpretation of the singo barong as being associated with the warrior is wrong:- maybe it is a direct lift from Chinese culture, and a very strong argument can be mounted for this.

But these things are physical.

What I am trying to get opinions on is the way in which factors from outside Javanese culture and society may have influenced the way in which the Javanese people regarded something that has become one of their major cultural symbols.

As to the possibility of outside influences on the Balinese keris, I suggest that nothing can be taken for granted. Bear this in mind:- I am not looking for physical influences, but rather how an outside factor may have contributed to an internal cultural perception or belief.

It is inarguable that Indian and Chinese contact with Jawa existed from a very early time, I think it is accepted that Indian contact existed from the second century AD, and Chinese contact from perhaps a little later, but in any case both India and China were contributing to Javanese cultural development well before the period that saw the appearance of the Modern Keris. In fact, in the 1950's, when I began my study of Jawa, I was repeatedly told that Jawa was an Indian sub-culture. This point of view has now altered, but this is the way Jawa used to be seen, not as a culture in its own right, but rather as a sub-culture of India.

So, how did influences from outside Jawa contribute to or influence the way in which the Javanese people have regarded, and now regard, the Javanese keris?