Meet my new Keris

[vinny]

Pak Rahman

Salams

Saya orang putih, tapi Ibu saya orang melayu. Nama saya juga Isa. Maafkan saya, saya bercakap sedikit-sedikit bahasa melayu. Saya tak ada peluang belajar.

I just try to catch up with all the culture I been missing out on, having been raised in England all my life. I came to visit my family in Singapore last year, my younger cousins thought it is very funny that as an orang putih - orang melay "mongrel" I was trying to be more "asian". Especially when I went hunting for gamelan recordings in Geylan.


Vinny

[rahman]

Vinny

Your Malay is perfect. Anda berbahasa lebih tertib dari ramai anak melayu sekarang. I am delighted you are recapturing your past. KampungNet has been doing that for the past 10 years for many people on the Internet. I hope you find yourself at home in our kampung.

Do join us as a member of our kampung.

wassalam

[Ian]

Rahman:

Thanks so much for the link. A few familiar names reside there.

Ian.

[Battara]

I'm with Ian (scary thought ) thanks for the wonderul link. Beautiful pieces (especially the sundang ).

[Boedhi Adhitya]

Salam to everyone..

Dear Vinny,
It's correct that your keris dressed in Yogyakarta style, Gayaman for sure. The Gayaman is considered as informal sheath in Java, which is used daily. The mendhak is Surakarta/Solo style. The hilt and pendhok are also Yogyakarta style. In my opinion, the blade is much older, perhaps from Tuban or old Madura era, around XV-XVI century. The pamor is beras wutah, and I also agree that it has the beautiful (and some believe, powerfull ) Akhodiyat pamor. For the dhapur (blade's shape), you should look carefully for the Tikel Alis (shallow groove which shaped like the eyebrow, located right upon the Gandhik/pejetan just before the sharp edge. "Alis" means, in fact, eyebrow). If the tikel alis presents, then the blade is Tilam Upih, if it is not, then you're right, it's Brojol.

Rick, your keris is what it's called in Java as "Tangguh Lempoh". Lempoh (javanese language) means lumpuh (Bahasa/Melayu) or crippled, in english. It's called so because the attribution (tangguh) could be judge undoubtly, so there should be only one attribution judgement for keris with "Tangguh Lempoh", which means, The Tangguh cannot "walk" to other era anymore . And yours is attributed to Sultan Agung era, Mataram Islam Kingdom.

Nechesh, it was also Sultan Agung who forbade the use of ganja/gonjo sekar (ganja with "flower", which is, the pamor), except his immediate families or high-rank court officials. But the use of ganja wulung (wulung means black, that is, ganja without pamor) is not always because the empu or keris' owner obeys the king. It might be caused by the original ones has been damaged, which may happen long after the keris was made. All in all, just look for the workmaship, which is the one you can always rely on.

I do apologize to everyone here, because I haven't get the pictures of my collections attached. It's always blurr, maybe because I only use digital camera from a handphone

[vinny]

Salam kepada Boedhi Adhitya

Thankyou for your very imformative post. I looked for tikel alis but I could not see it. The only relief present on the Ricikan is the part where finger and thumb squeeze it on either side. I notice on the ricikan a nice part of the pamor which seems to suggest that it was meant to look like an object falling into water creating a splash, or "plop". Unfortunately it is not visible on my earlier photos. I may attempt to photograph this later.

I think the ganja is original, but without pamor, maybe for effect? It could be a later addition, but if it is, it has been made very well as it is perfect fit and follows the lines and contours exactly. The ganja appears to be made from many layers when you examine closely.

My overall impression is that everything seems to be good workmanship, with nice details.

You have increased my knowledge of this Keris many times over, I appreciate the fact you have taken the time. Terima kasih.

Recommend Fuji S7000 digital SLR - its the cheapest digital SLR available. I take pictures at 3M pixels, but it can do upt to 6M true pixels, and 12M interpolated. A good, if not cumbersome camera.

Thanks to everyone else who has shared their knowledge and pictures.

Regards
Vinny

[Kiai Carita]

Just to add to information given by other members of this forum, the dapur Brojol is associated with the business of giving birth. Some Western references say that the dapur Brojol is a midwifes keris. This is true but not the whole story. According to legend the keris dapur Brojol was first owned and weilded by the great king Krisna of Dwarawati.

This is the Krisna of the famous Bhaghawad Gita, the incarnation of Wisnu. Krisna was a great diplomat and politician and worked his Godly (Wisnu-ite) works through the human institutions of diplomacy and politics. Therefore the dapur Brojol is sought after by healers, law makers, politicians and diplomats who are also in the business of 'giving birth' due to the nature of their work. The word brojol means to plop out like a baby does in an easy birth.

Vinny's keris seems also to have extra special pamor on the sor-soran area, shaped rather like layers of mountains. I could not see the photo properly but it seemed that there was pamor gunung there. This is believed by some in Jawa to have the esoteric powers to help the bearer achieve high aspirations and conquer tall mountains. You have a great keris to begin your collection, Sir! Selamat Anda telah berjodoh dengan sebilah keris yang indah dan berangsar!

Salam.

[vinny]

Kiai Carita

1000 thanks for you information.

I noticed this pamor gunung. I was not sure what it was. Thankyou for enlightening me. There is also something that looks like a "splash", but I have not yet photographed this. I will try to do it at the weekend.

I had a good feeling about this Keris, I agree Keris ini indah. I am not sure what my wife would say about a second marriage though!

Terima kasih

Regards
Vinny