The Size of the Keris

[David]

Originally Posted by Roland_M

Maybe i have missed the theme. What i tried to say was, that a Keris was never just a symbol of mythology or so.
Keris was mainly a weapon, a very effective and handy weapon, if one knows how to deal with it.

I think, the Keris have probably the highest cutting power of all daggers worldwide, because of the multiple curved shape.
I have one old example with a razor sharp cutting edge and tiny nicks.

In Indonesia they had duels extremely often, even nowadays.
Some users preferred a shorter Keris for duels, because it is an advantage for high skilled users. That is my explanation for the different sizes.

Roland, while i would not argue that the keris originated as a weapon it certainly has not been mainly a weapon for a very long time. Also, the keris is, for the most part, a stabbing weapon, like a rapier as Alan remarked before. Occasionally you do encounter keris with razor sharp cutting edges, but it is not the normal and keris are not really designed for slashing and cutting in that manner. I don't know who these highly skilled modern keris users are who prefer a shorter keris in duels, but 8 inch keris blades are also the exception, not the rule and keris of this size are generally either patrems, keris selit or purely talismanic, none of which are really intended for battle. The purpose of all these much smaller keris (under 10 inches) have recognized purposes throughout the keris world. Occasionally we may see keris in these dimensions that don't fit into those above categories. However, if blades of 8 inches in length were actually preferred for fighting don't you think we would see a whole lot more of them?