Rerajahan soul of the keris

[Pusaka]

Alan, Thanks for the info about the de-laminated keris with paper inside. I myself have seen many keris for sale including shady talismanic keris but have never seen what you describe.

You mention lontar text, I do know that the images used to construct jimat are taking directly out of lontar text.

For now I guess the way forward is to locate those two text spoken of and perhaps get talking with Balinese pande and ask them directly.

EDIT:

"Some of the ancient lontar texts included complex drawings along with corresponding Balinese calligraphy that are used by balians to create amulets called jimats. Jimats are created for a variety of uses, healing is one usage. In constructing a jimat, the balian redraws the illustration, first asking permission to engage in this activity, then proceeding with focused intention upon the sick recipient.

A Balinese sacred healing image
The illustration is usually drawn upon paper, although some are executed on white material or metal, depending upon the usage. Next, additional aksare are etched with a sacred tool onto a small piece of gold, silver, copper and bark of an indigenous Balinese tree. The balian folds the drawing in half, shaves incense into the crease then continues folding adding incense shavings with each fold until a small square approximately 1-1/2" is reached. The metals and wood are placed on top of the drawing with shaved incense in between each layer. The entire piece is slipped into a sheave of white cloth, then secured on all sides with threads."

http://www.drgrotte.com/BalineseMedicine.shtml

[A. G. Maisey]

Darren, I know two Balinese pande. One I have known since , I think, 1984, at which time he was working with his father whom I also knew. This man is probably the most highly respected pande keris in Bali. The other pande I know is much younger and is a "new boy on the block". He is quite talented, but has not yet built his reputation.

However, I would never ask such questions as I believe you are suggesting of either of these men. This would be considered to be improper, arrogant, ill mannered behaviour. It would indicate that I thought I had the right to know of their personal practices, and as such my question would be treated with contempt and I would be given an incorrect response, possibly a response that reflected the answer they thought I was expecting.

In the societies in which these people live we need to become not just a part of the society, but a part of the segment of that society before questions about personal practices, especially those connected with money and personal belief, will be tolerated.

The only way to truly know anything about these matters is to be accepted as, let us say, "a member of the club". If you are not a member of the club, you are an outsider, outsiders have no right to ask, and even less to know.

The pandes of Bali separate themselves from the rest of Balinese society. They are members of the Pande Clan. They have their own priests. Even other Balinese are outsiders.

In Jawa the situation is not as tight as in Bali, but outsiders are still not accepted until they have demonstrated that they might be suitable to be accepted.

I believe that it is pretty well known that I was taught how to make keris by Empu Suparman Supowijoyo; that teaching stretched over a 14 year period.

Let me tell you what came before my acceptance as his student. I was accepted at age 41, in the Solo of the 1980's, and before, most ahli keris would not accept men who had not demonstrated that they were mature and committed as students. You needed to be a stable member of society, married, preferably with children, and of good reputation; if you wished to learn how to make keris you needed to demonstrate that you had the funds to pay for the process.

At age 41 I had already studied Javanese society, history, art, culture and specifically the keris, for 27 years, I had already had 15 years of face to face contact with Indonesia and had periodically lived in Solo for periods of a few months, for 8 years, I had already learnt basic forge work from an Australian traditional blacksmith, Gordon Blackwell, I had already made one keris with pamor, as well as several other daggers with pamor, and a number of knives made of mechanical damascus and high carbon steel.

That was my background when Empu Suparman accepted me. But he then had numerous meetings with me over about a 2 year period, during which time he probed every corner of my personality and life. He spoke with people in Solo who had known me for long periods of time. In short, he conducted a two year long interview in order to assess if I was suitable to be taught how to make keris.

The "hands on" teaching began 2 years after I was initially accepted.

All education costs, in one way or another, it is not simply a matter of asking questions.

[David]

Originally Posted by Pusaka

Alan, Thanks for the info about the de-laminated keris with paper inside. I myself have seen many keris for sale including shady talismanic keris but have never seen what you describe.

Can you define "many"? Surely you must be aware that Alan has seen and physically handled more keris over the past 50 years than the majority of our membership combined. That you or i may not have encountered this is neither surprising nor of any consequence.

Originally Posted by Pusaka

You mention lontar text, I do know that the images used to construct jimat are taking directly out of lontar text.
For now I guess the way forward is to locate those two text spoken of and perhaps get talking with Balinese pande and ask them directly.

I admire your optimism on this front, though i suspect you will find the task of locating these two texts about as easy as locating the Holy Grail. But i wish you luck and would love to hear about your findings if you ever are able to get your hands on them.
I also wish you luck when you finally locate a Balinese Pande and meet with him face to face to ask that he impart to you all his greatest secrets for the preparation of a "living" keris. Ah, to be a fly on the wall for that conversation.
I am sure that you realize that we are indeed fortunate to have, right here in this conversation, a man who studied directly with two acknowledged Mpus and who has created some fine keris himself. I find it interesting that when he tells us, "There is no tradition of which I know, nor that my teachers knew, nor that is contained in the primary Surakarta Empus Text-book, that calls for the inscription of magical drawings into any part of the metal used to produce a keris blade" that you don't seem to even skip a beat. I am not suggesting that you look no further, but you seem to prefer the mythos of Dynamo Jack as popularized by Lorne and Lawrence Blair or the legends of keris passed on through Westernized Silat to the accounts of someone who has actual firsthand knowledge working with well known Mpus. True, as Alan states, he has not worked with a Hindu pande and it certainly would not be surprising to find some things done a bit differently there given they still adhere to Hinduism in Bali. However, we should also consider that keris in Bali are a direct line of descent from the Mojopahit empire of Jawa.
Of course, this does not mean that Alan is infallible on these matters and certain i have disagreed and debated him on numerous points over the years. But it is remarkable to me how easily you seem to brush off his experience because it does not jibe with or give you the answers that to seem to have already assumed to be true.

Originally Posted by Pusaka

"Some of the ancient lontar texts included complex drawings along with corresponding Balinese calligraphy that are used by balians to create amulets called jimats. Jimats are created for a variety of uses, healing is one usage. In constructing a jimat, the balian redraws the illustration, first asking permission to engage in this activity, then proceeding with focused intention upon the sick recipient.

A Balinese sacred healing image
The illustration is usually drawn upon paper, although some are executed on white material or metal, depending upon the usage. Next, additional aksare are etched with a sacred tool onto a small piece of gold, silver, copper and bark of an indigenous Balinese tree. The balian folds the drawing in half, shaves incense into the crease then continues folding adding incense shavings with each fold until a small square approximately 1-1/2" is reached. The metals and wood are placed on top of the drawing with shaved incense in between each layer. The entire piece is slipped into a sheave of white cloth, then secured on all sides with threads."
http://www.drgrotte.com/BalineseMedicine.shtml

I'm trying to understand what this information shows us in regard to keris. You seem to keep coming back to this idea that the keris is nothing more than another form of jimat, a talisman, a charm. Certainly there are keris we can regard as being "talismanic", but i believe we sell the keris short if we insist that all it is or can be is just a talisman. I don't think anyone will disagree with you that this method of Rerajahan may well be used in Bali to create simple talismans or charms. Of course, balian are highly respected healers in Bali and people there frequent them more often than medical doctors, especially when their problems seem to be more a matter of niskala rather than sekala. But a balian is not an mpu or pande and showing that they may use Rerajahan in the creation of jimat is hardly evidence that keris pande also use the same process. It seems quite a jump from there to then state that Rerajahan is the "soul of the keris".
In your post (#25) you stated your reasons for starting this thread:
1 because no such thread discussing Rerajahan in the construction of keris existed prior to it and thought it would be good to change that.

2 and my main reason was I was hoping that some member/s of this forum would have some knowledge in this area maybe even share some examples of Rerajahan used in keris making.
As both Alan and i have pointed out, there may indeed be reasons why there was no such thread on "Rerajahan" here as it might relate to keris. But for you, this void, this hole, this flaw in our keris knowledge "says it all'. No Pusaka, not just here, but actually not anywhere that i know of (and i participate in 4 major online keris forums and moderate on 2 of them and can find no mention of Rerajahan there either). As i believe i have already stated, and you must realize this having some knowledge of the use of sigils in Western Magick, this process of magically charging objects with letters, sigils and words (chants) is quite common is esoteric circles across many cultures and certainly we can find that it is indeed a practice in Bali. That does not, however, support the notion that Rerajahan is specifically used in the creation of keris. Yes, we do see a pande in the marvelous video to posted inscribe something quickly on the billet before he begins, but it doesn't seem to be anything like what i image is the more complicated procedure of Rerajahan. I do find Alan's explanation that he may be inscribing an aum as an offering to Ganesha to open the way for the start of the work very plausible however. Of course, this is all changed now so when we google the term "Rerajahan + Keris" people will undoubtably be directed right here. I thank you for that.
I'm afraid your second and main reason for opening this thread seems a bit fantastic to me. Let's say for a just a minute that your suspicions about Rerajahan and keris are correct. As i stated early, if there was hard evidence to support this i would not find the concept too farfetched. Let's also say that there was someone in our membership who had a direct line of understanding about it and its application to keris (though i would think that if anyone here was privy to such knowledge it would be Alan). Why on earth to you suppose for even a minute that person would be willing to share such information in an open forum like this? I mean seriously, would not the exacting methods of instilling isi into a keris blade be the most highly guarded secret amongst Mpus? I would think that if such a secret did exist the details of it would not be revealed even to the Mpu's apprentice until the very final stages of their training. You are not going to find this sort of information in online forums, videos, articles or even books. Or i should say that you may find things that might appear to be such knowledge, but are not, because every step along the path of spiritual knowledge is fraught with hucksters, con men and fools. Deep truths are never revealed this way because people would learn them before they were ready to actually know them and that can be a very dangerous situation indeed. It is always easy to find the "truths" we want to hear because there are always people ready and able to provide such misdirections, especially if they can find a way to make a living doing it. But if you ever do meet a pande keris who is willing to teach you his greatest secret of how to bring life into a piece of forged iron i would not be the least bit offended if, after careful consideration, you decided not to reveal such a great secret in an open forum such as this.

[A. G. Maisey]

David, regarding the two manuscripts mentioned by Basuki Yuwono, the Dharma Kepandean can be bought, by the look of things.

I'm going to try to chase it up next time I'm in Bali, in a few weeks time, but this link will take you to an online source:-

https://www.tokopedia.com/mbukubali/...?m_id=11966039

The other text, Rerajahan Keris, I really cannot find except related to Basuki, he apparently knows of it, maybe he even wrote it, a naskah does not need to be a old manuscript, just an original one. Maybe one day we'll be able to read it. I'll be in Solo too in a few weeks, so I'll ask around. If it does exist I feel I might be looking at another little primer, rather than an academic translation and examination of a lontar.

Incidentally, on the subject of lontars. These are inscriptions on strips of palm leaf. Because of their nature and the way in which they deteriorate in a tropical climate, they needed to be constantly re-transcribed to new palm leaves. The most recent version of the text of a lontar could well be a couple of hundred years old, but might have been transcribed a few times since it was originally written. Because different scribes transcribed the same original, and later versions, of lontars at different times, the most recent version of a lontar can show additions and alterations to the original. In short, what we find in the romanised translation of a lontar originally written in, say, the 14th century, might be somewhat different to the original.

[David]

Originally Posted by A. G. Maisey

David, regarding the two manuscripts mentioned by Basuki Yuwono, the Dharma Kepandean can be bought, by the look of things.

Well then, should be easier to find that the Grail i suppose! LOL!

[Pusaka]

David, thank you for your latest and most estrogen charged response thus far!

My reason for believing that Rerajahan are part of keris construction is because I have both read AND been told multiple times! Such information is even casually mentioned such as:

"The selected metals are inscribed with rerajahan
(magical symbols) before they are processed.
Every work step is accompanied by mantras
(incantations) and sacrifices. An auspicious day
is chosen for the basupati, the awakening ceremony
for the finished blade."

pg48 The Gods and the Forge


"He explained, the first factor was the selection and method of obtaining the raw materials obtained by conducting semedi. Secondly, it relates to the selection of a good or two-day day when starting work, followed by an offering ceremony and a prayer for mutual safety. Both for the creator and the person who uses it later.


While the third factor, continued the former male English language teacher, the element of entering the rerajahan, puja mantra according to what was expected. After completing, he continued, then entered or often called the Pasupati on the chosen day, and the ceremony must also be in accordance with the needs of the keris. "The last is the maintenance of physical and non-physical keris for sustainability," explained
a painting collector who is also an observer of art."

https://baliexpress.jawapos.com/read...ga-taksu-keris

[A. G. Maisey]

Darren, there are a couple of things that possibly need some clarification.

I understand that the quote from the Ificah publication refers to Bali, in Bali rajahan are used as a part of everyday life and in many applications, so if a particular smith wishes to use them in the making of a keris, that should not surprise us, but if he does, any marks made on the metal used will disappear with the first heat in the forge.

Prior to Dietrich Drescher's kick-start of the Keris Revival in Central Jawa, there was somewhere between no keris manufacture and very little keris manufacture anywhere in Indonesia. That revival commenced in the first half of the 1970's, I was in Solo, on and off, during the entire period of the revival, I saw it happening.

In Bali, the revival of the keris started a bit later, all through the 1970's and 1980's nothing was happening, I think that probably the first Balinese keris of the modern era was made by Mangku Pande Made Wija in about 1983 or 1984. This keris was made as an order for Dietrich Drescher, I handled it when I visited Mangku Pande Made Wija just after the completion of the keris. As far as I am aware he only made this one keris for Mr. Drescher, when I spoke with him at a later time he told me that he could make a much better living by producing ceremonial axes and ordinary tools than he could ever make from producing keris.

In the period following the puputans the Balinese people lost faith in both their rulers and seemingly the ability of their Gods and Ancestors to protect them against the evil forces of this world. It is told how when faced with the attacking Dutch forces, the Raja of Klungkung struck the earth with his keris and called upon his Ancestors to open the earth and swallow the Dutch aggressors. This did not happen, so the Klungkung Court took this as an indication that it was time for the present era to end, and they embarked upon puputan.

From about 1974 through to about the mid-1990's I searched consistently for people in Bali with Balinese understanding of keris. I could find none, even though I had better sources than most other people. I met a pande in Blahbatu in the mid-1990's who had begun to forge keris, and after that it seemed as if keris interest in Bali began to rise again, but during the period of about 1974 to 1993 keris knowledge in Bali was very difficult to uncover, and it seems as if there had been no person to person transmission of knowledge since well before WWII.

Now we have in Bali a blossoming of pandes who are turning out keris, and keris authorities who seem to have materialised out of nowhere.

I sometimes wonder just exactly where the current Bali keris knowledge has come from. I'm inclined to believe much of the current keris knowledge has come from divine sources, and been delivered in the form of dreams.

Now, I know personally a couple of Balinese pande, I have known very well the two most prominent Javanese empu of the post 1980 period, I use the past tense because both have now passed. I know personally a number of other Javanese pande keris and keris craftsmen. I have worked with some of these people.

In Jawa and Bali that which a casual enquirer is permitted to see, and what he is told, is nearly always different to reality. It gets back to the "club" idea that I have previously mentioned, this, combined with the well known propensity of both Javanese and Balinese people to provide responses to questions in the form of an answer that they believe will please you means that most things that we read in books or reports written by outsiders about matters to do with Jawa and Bali must be taken only as possibilities, not realities. Read Margaret Wiener's "Visible & Invisible Realms" and consider what this Professor of Anthropology needed to do in order to complete her field work, consider her own doubts about some of the information she was given.

In fact, this characteristic of questionable "keris knowledge" is not limited to Jawa and Bali, it permeates the entire bank of keris knowledge, but the quantity of questionable belief and knowledge that has been generated since about 1990 seems to have grown exponentially.

In other words, don't believe everything you read.

[David]

Originally Posted by Pusaka

"The selected metals are inscribed with rerajahan
(magical symbols) before they are processed.
Every work step is accompanied by mantras
(incantations) and sacrifices. An auspicious day
is chosen for the basupati, the awakening ceremony
for the finished blade."

pg48 The Gods and the Forge

Pusaka, thank you for finally producing a reference to the great source of your knowledge, but you should know that the above passage is actually on page 49.
And congratulations. You will now find yourself in moderated status for your rude and impertinent sarcasm.