Ethnographic Arms & Armour - View Single Post - Slim Kojuk Mrenges Keris Hilt from Madura

A. G. Maisey · 1st February 2016, 09:05 PM

David, we cannot think of "Jawa" as a singly homogeneous unity over all time. What we know about the North Coast of Jawa in the first quarter of the 15th century is this:-

"The men have a pu-lak stuck in their girdle, everyone carrying such a weapon from the child of three years up to the oldest man; these daggers have very thin stripes and whitish flowers and are made of the very best steel, the handle is of gold, rhinoceros horn or ivory, cut into the shape of human or devils faces and finished very carefully." (Ying -yai Sheng-lan --1416)

There has been a lot of academic discussion over the word pu-lak, and the consensus of academic opinion is that the weapon referred to is the keris.

What the Chinese visitors were seeing in 1416 was what was happening amongst the people in the trading enclaves and near countryside of the North Coast; they appeared not to gain entry to the kraton, they did not penetrate the interior. In the early 15th century in the area of Jawa that the visitors actually saw, there was a strong middle-eastern influence.

Moving on from the 15th century, and fast forward to the early 19th century, from what we can read of the behaviour and customs of the elite classes of Javanese society at that time, it would appear that children when in formal dress completed that dress with a wangkingan. This seems to have been the case right through into late colonial times, say, the 1930's.

In more recent times, 1970 through to now, I have seen children in full formal dress, and including the wangkingan.

But do these same standards apply for everybody? Of course not. Very often men of the poorer classes do not even own a keris themselves, they rent or borrow one when it is necessary to dress formally.

So when we ask "--- did all children as young as 6 carry keris?---"

we really need to place that question into the frame of time, place and social class. We also need to recognise that we are talking about the keris as wangkingan, not the keris as dhuwung.

In the early 15th century, well, if we can believe Ma Huan, yes children did carry keris, at least on the North Coast of Jawa.

In the period from around 1800 through to 1930 almost certainly some children did, at least when in formal dress.

In the period from 1980 through to right now, very certainly some children did and do, when in formal dress.

1st February 2016, 09:05 PM	#12
A. G. Maisey Member Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 6,710	David, we cannot think of "Jawa" as a singly homogeneous unity over all time. What we know about the North Coast of Jawa in the first quarter of the 15th century is this:- "The men have a pu-lak stuck in their girdle, everyone carrying such a weapon from the child of three years up to the oldest man; these daggers have very thin stripes and whitish flowers and are made of the very best steel, the handle is of gold, rhinoceros horn or ivory, cut into the shape of human or devils faces and finished very carefully." (Ying -yai Sheng-lan --1416) There has been a lot of academic discussion over the word pu-lak, and the consensus of academic opinion is that the weapon referred to is the keris. What the Chinese visitors were seeing in 1416 was what was happening amongst the people in the trading enclaves and near countryside of the North Coast; they appeared not to gain entry to the kraton, they did not penetrate the interior. In the early 15th century in the area of Jawa that the visitors actually saw, there was a strong middle-eastern influence. Moving on from the 15th century, and fast forward to the early 19th century, from what we can read of the behaviour and customs of the elite classes of Javanese society at that time, it would appear that children when in formal dress completed that dress with a wangkingan. This seems to have been the case right through into late colonial times, say, the 1930's. In more recent times, 1970 through to now, I have seen children in full formal dress, and including the wangkingan. But do these same standards apply for everybody? Of course not. Very often men of the poorer classes do not even own a keris themselves, they rent or borrow one when it is necessary to dress formally. So when we ask "--- did all children as young as 6 carry keris?---" we really need to place that question into the frame of time, place and social class. We also need to recognise that we are talking about the keris as wangkingan, not the keris as dhuwung. In the early 15th century, well, if we can believe Ma Huan, yes children did carry keris, at least on the North Coast of Jawa. In the period from around 1800 through to 1930 almost certainly some children did, at least when in formal dress. In the period from 1980 through to right now, very certainly some children did and do, when in formal dress.