A Balinese Keris (?) for discussion

A. G. Maisey · 7th December 2016, 07:44 PM

Absolutely yes.

There are many old Javanese blades in Bali dress, and in fact some old Balinese pusaka keris have Javanese blades.

Then of course we have the Balinese blades that were taken to Jawa in more recent times --- 1950's to 1970's --- and turned into Javanese blades. This was purely a matter of money:- average garap in a Bali keris is excellent garap in a Jawa keris, and in this period good Jawa keris were worth a lot more money than Bali keris.

There is one factor that is very often overlooked by people who do not try to think like people from times past :- until very recent times the areas of water that to our minds separate the islands of Indonesia, in times past were highways:- the water connected the islands, it was the forest without decent roads that separated settlements.

We sometimes refer to the "Jawa-Bali Nexus". They were joined at the hip. Javanese kings were of Balinese origin sometimes, Bali was ruled by Jawa. There are connections in language:- I cannot speak nor understand spoken Balinese, but I have been assured by native speakers of Javanese that they can understand/guess what is being said in Balinese, once they become used to the accent and delivery. I'm guessing that this might be a bit like me listening to somebody from North West England --- I cannot immediately understand him, but after a couple of hours listening to him I pick up the flow of the words and I can fill in the gaps.

Things don't always fit into neat, separate boxes, its more like they're in pools in water that merge into one another.

7th December 2016, 07:44 PM	#18
A. G. Maisey Member Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 7,019	Absolutely yes. There are many old Javanese blades in Bali dress, and in fact some old Balinese pusaka keris have Javanese blades. Then of course we have the Balinese blades that were taken to Jawa in more recent times --- 1950's to 1970's --- and turned into Javanese blades. This was purely a matter of money:- average garap in a Bali keris is excellent garap in a Jawa keris, and in this period good Jawa keris were worth a lot more money than Bali keris. There is one factor that is very often overlooked by people who do not try to think like people from times past :- until very recent times the areas of water that to our minds separate the islands of Indonesia, in times past were highways:- the water connected the islands, it was the forest without decent roads that separated settlements. We sometimes refer to the "Jawa-Bali Nexus". They were joined at the hip. Javanese kings were of Balinese origin sometimes, Bali was ruled by Jawa. There are connections in language:- I cannot speak nor understand spoken Balinese, but I have been assured by native speakers of Javanese that they can understand/guess what is being said in Balinese, once they become used to the accent and delivery. I'm guessing that this might be a bit like me listening to somebody from North West England --- I cannot immediately understand him, but after a couple of hours listening to him I pick up the flow of the words and I can fill in the gaps. Things don't always fit into neat, separate boxes, its more like they're in pools in water that merge into one another.