A Very Old Kris

A. G. Maisey · 16th August 2012, 12:20 AM

There are some interesting comments in this thread, but I'm not going to get too involved in it because I do not have the necessary cultural, societal nor historical knowledge specific to the matters being discussed to be able to make valid comments.

However, I will make this one comment:- in the Javanese keris the kembang kacang or sekar kacang, the "elephant's trunk", did have a definite symbolic meaning when it first appeared, which was in the Modern Keris, the form that appeared after the Keris Buda. Its origin was rooted in Hindu belief, nothing at all to do with elephants roaming around Jawa. It should be noted that both kembang kacang and sekar kacang are euphemisms.

How the kembang kacang may be interpreted in the societies to which the keris spread from its point of origin, I do not know, but I am reasonably confident that any such interpretations would have been generated within those societies, rather adopted from early Javanese society.

The later, although still early in terms of keris development, additions to the Javanese keris of singo barong, naga, or bomha held iconographic meanings which differed from the meaning and purpose of the original kembang kacang.

16th August 2012, 12:20 AM	#11
A. G. Maisey Member Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 6,992	There are some interesting comments in this thread, but I'm not going to get too involved in it because I do not have the necessary cultural, societal nor historical knowledge specific to the matters being discussed to be able to make valid comments. However, I will make this one comment:- in the Javanese keris the kembang kacang or sekar kacang, the "elephant's trunk", did have a definite symbolic meaning when it first appeared, which was in the Modern Keris, the form that appeared after the Keris Buda. Its origin was rooted in Hindu belief, nothing at all to do with elephants roaming around Jawa. It should be noted that both kembang kacang and sekar kacang are euphemisms. How the kembang kacang may be interpreted in the societies to which the keris spread from its point of origin, I do not know, but I am reasonably confident that any such interpretations would have been generated within those societies, rather adopted from early Javanese society. The later, although still early in terms of keris development, additions to the Javanese keris of singo barong, naga, or bomha held iconographic meanings which differed from the meaning and purpose of the original kembang kacang.