Sumatran kris

[AHite]

I acquired this kris, which I believe is Sumatran. The blade is layered and shows severe etching from cleaning. The edge is still very sharp, though. The handle is wood with carving. The sheath, unfortunately has damage that was poorly repaired. Even if I could get the old repair glue off there will still be pieces of wood missing when I reset the cracks. Leaving it alone for now.

Question for the forum: How old is this kris? The ganya is separate from the blade. Are the wood handle and sheath original to this blade or later replacements. Any idea of the wood species used on the sheath, in the event I try to repair it?

The blade is approximately 31cm.

A big "Thanks" to all the forum members who have given me great information on all of the various ethnographic weapons I have posted here!

Regards,
Andrew

[rasdan]

Hello AHite,

My opinion the blade is very likely Madura or East Java. The sheath could also be Madura or East Java, but West Java is a probability as well.

I am not sure about the hilt, but probably it is also East Java, thus the combination of the sheath, hilt and blade in my opinion makes sense. However the combination of the fittings does not really matter since it is very normal a blade and the dress got changed/switched.

[milandro]

I agree, this is not a sumatran kris.

I don't understand the comment about the sharpness of the blade. Krises are thrusting weapons and although some blades are sharper than others the blades are not supposed to cut (as in a slashing weapon).

Handle and sheath are parts which are often replaced and blades are sometimes adapted to different cultural contexts.

It will be certainly ok to repair whatever you have ( and also turn the orientation of the handle which is wrong and add a suitable ring or mendak because it is missing, if the handle or ukiran has been glued needs to be loosened by means of heat because it is supposed to be friction mounted with some cloth or rope around the tang)

[AHite]

My comment about the edge sharpness of this blade is just an observation. However it happened the edges are very sharp, despite all of the erosion of the surface.

I am not sure where I would source the appropriate ring. I had the suspicion that it was missing one, based on the photos of similar keris I have looked at. Also, how is the handle supposed to be aligned? Thanks for the information!

Andrew Hite

[milandro]

the hilt should be turned 180º, in other words it has to face the other way around. Please observe other Javanese krises on the forum and you will understand how to turn it.

The Mendak or as you say " ring" can be purchased there are many sellers who sell rings of many types. You need one which would go on a a Keris like this please take a look here

http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...=madura+mendak

[David]

I tend to agree with Rasdan on the blade origin. Certainly not Sumatran. Blade is most likely 19th century. It is difficult to know if the wrongko is original to the blade based upon your photos. How well does the blade fit into the sheath? I would think it is unlikely that the hilt is original to this keris since this is a Surakarta form of planar hilt that would not be a natural fit for it.
You can find both new and used mendhaks fairly easily in places like eBay. And yes, the hilt should be turned 180º for a proper orientation.

[A. G. Maisey]

I'd be inclined to think of this keris as "generic Javanese".

As Rasdan has said, blade is most likely East Jawa, maybe Madura.

The wrongko could be from anywhere, when I see these slightly fatter gayamans I tend to think of Banyumas, but I've seen the same or similar from along the North Coast of Jawa, & the far East of Jawa, around Banyuwangi.

The hilt is a Javanese planar hilt, stylistically very possibly Surakarta, but again it could be from anywhere, East Jawa uses this planar style also, & it actually originated in Cirebon. Photographs can often distort the true form of a subject, and this hilt looks a bit to short and bunkul a bit too heavy for Jawa Tengah.

In any case, a pretty nice old "every man's" keris, well worth a bit of effort to give it a facelift.

[milandro]

I have a similar looking blade (also of some age) on a Bugis dress, cross contamination of blades and dress are very common and not necessarily the product of foul play. It still happens and happened in the past too.

[A. G. Maisey]

Jawa was a big exporter of weapon blades for a very long time & over a very big area. We can expect to find weapon blades that were made in Jawa in many places.

[Pak Daud]

Greetings Gentlemen,
If I may post a comment upon this Keris, is a mixmatched between several "pakem" or I sould say "langgam" (perceived style). Obviously this keris blade was forged using langgam East Jawa/Madura. But to my best guess, that it have a tendency toward Madura. Since the Pamor is "Nggajih- ngambang" (floating and staggered as in animal's raw fat). I can not tell if keris was forged using two-toned pamor, until it was dipped in warangan to show pamor's gradation. The resemble of "tikel alis", is a tad off from "pejetan", I suspect that this practice was meant to uppen the offered price, from regular Keris Brojol.
Scabbard is standard Gayaman, with kind of thick upper head, I think it's Ponorogo style. Hilt is obviously Surakartan, for commoner (abangan) since it has no intricate details. No "mendak" (ring).
Thus far, even if the Keris was OK, it's kind of "owahan" (modified). But surely sufficient for beginers to have one.
But again, sincere appology if I made wrong interpretations.

[A. G. Maisey]

Actually, the jejeran does have cecekan.

In Jawa Tengah, a planar hilt lacking cecekan is usually used for sandang walikat dress, it does not relate to hierarchical status.

[A. G. Maisey]

That little bit of adjustment that I did prompted me to have a closer look at what remains of the tikel alis.

This keris has the older style of tikel alis that goes right through to the front of the gandhik, & the blade overall has suffered some erosion. That erosion has taken definition from the lower edge of the tikel alis, that is the reason that it looks a bit queer. There have not been any alterations to the blade intended to increase perceived value, it is just an old, simple blade that has suffered some neglect.

It is always difficult to try to make a balanced assessment of a keris from a photo, in the hand many things become apparent that are simply not obvious in even the very best of professional photographs.

[Pak Daud]

Pak Alan, perhaps this additional information would be useful.
According to pak Kuntadi in his thesis: "Existence and development of Javanese Keris through a cultural perspective." Program Studi Kriya, Fakultas Senirupa dan design, Institute Seni Indonesia, Surakarta 2019.

Keris Banyumasan (Eastern region Central Java) as well Central Java in general, usually using "ring" (mendak) for their Kerises. You are right, "planar hilt" (selut) is additional esthetics and social status. In his argument, that s ring (mendak) is a must for 3 in 1, either for keris and his dress (dandanan).
Because representation of philosophy of keris itself.
Additionally, Keris must consist of 3 parts: Wilah, Gonjo and Pesi. These rules are also applied to them dressings. It must consist of 3 parts as well. Such as Warongko (scabbard), Mendak (ring), and Deder (hilt). If one would add planar (selut), it is still considered as "ring section".
There is an adagium within Tosan Aji (keris/dhuwung/tombak) that says:
"Curiga manjing warongko jumbuhing kawulo lan Gusti" in soft transtlation we can say "Keris inserted to it's scabbard, is sybolizing harmony between mortal to his Supreme Being." So, I think I agree to what pak Kuntadi said. In conclusion: that ring is a must between Keris and Deder (hilt), if one would go to perfection that is.

Unfortunately, them pictures were one sided, only turned same side but upside down. I wonder if we were fortunate enough to have another side to make further assament to be discussed further, as to make comparison.

I agree, upon inspection, the tikel alis is leaning toward Middle Mataram, the difference perhaps berm-gap between Blumbangan/Pejetan to bottom of Tikel-alis clearly looked as if it was pinched.
By contrast early Madura was leaning toward Hindu Majapahit/Singhasari. In which the tikel alis should be like "J" as in fishing Hook, with bottom end of hook crashing toward edge of gandik.
(pardon: As newbie so I think I need to wait a tad more to be able to upload pictures). Pray thou wilt illuminate tis simpleton sire

[A. G. Maisey]

Thank you very much for your further comments Pak Daud, I much appreciate your interest & involvement in our discussion. I am not aware of Pak Kuntadi's work, I have found that this paper is published online with "scribd", I am not a subscriber to "scribd", and I have no intention of becoming one. I would like to read Pak Kuntadi's paper but I will not provide my bank details to do so.

Just a few points I will mention:-

Banyumas is in South-Western Central Jawa
The word "planar" refers to "planes" or flat surfaces, the Surakarta & Jogjakarta hilt styles have flat surfaces, so in English they can be referred to as "planar" hilts. The word "planar" has nothing at all to do with the selut.

In respect of this aphorism:-

"Curiga manjing warongko jumbuhing kawulo lan Gusti"

and the understanding that you have given:-

"Keris inserted to it's scabbard, is sybolizing harmony between mortal to his Supreme Being."

the meaning that you have provided is a rather new understanding, & it reflects the rise of Islam in Jawa. During the 1970's and continuing until perhaps, more or less the beginning of the 21st century, this little piece of wisdom was often understood as symbolic of the desired harmonious relationship between husband & wife, the keris having a male nature, & the wrongko having a female nature, it was often used in speeches at wedding receptions. In fact, it is probably still used in this "male:female" application, but it is a long time since I attended a Javanese wedding ceremony.

However, the nature of an aphorism is that it reduces a philosophical or moral teaching to a bite-sized chunk of wisdom, and the bite-sized chunk of wisdom that you have presented is a rather recent one, one that I feel might not have sprung to the minds of people such as Panembahan Hardjonegoro(Alm.) nor Empu Suparman Supowijoyo(Alm.) nor Pande Seni Keris (Empu) Pauzan Pusposukadgo(Alm.).

Of course, an aphorism can have multiple applications, and as societies change, so can the ways in which the members of a society communicate with one another can also change.

In so far as the composition of the Javanese keris is concerned, in fact, the wilah (blade) is the keris, or more correctly, the Dhuwung (Kr.), all other parts that constitute a keris that is suited to use are only dress, dress that can be changed according to the need. The items that can be used in the dress of a keris vary considerably and are usually chosen with specific parameters in mind.

Yes, the keris does consist of wilah (bilah) + gonjo (ganja) + pesi.