Interesting keris making video

[A. G. Maisey]

Here is a link to Part II of the keris making video, it has only been available for a few days.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YmZ1...5WlX4Baza6YidT


Pusaka:-

could you tell us exactly what words you heard at 1.56 of Part I of the video that you believe indicated that meteorite was included in the material used? Thanks.

[Pusaka]

Originally Posted by A. G. Maisey

Here is a link to Part II of the keris making video, it has only been available for a few days.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YmZ1...5WlX4Baza6YidT


Pusaka:-

could you tell us exactly what words you heard at 1.56 of Part I of the video that you believe indicated that meteorite was included in the material used? Thanks.

He said something that sounds very similar to meteor...yo-metero

Also I had read some articles which had talked about keris he made with meteorites

http://www.fotografer.net/forum/view.php?id=3193791562

http://teknologi.news.viva.co.id/new...ra-deteksinya-

[A. G. Maisey]

Thanks Pusaka.

Yes, at the moment there are more than a few people who have used meteoritic material, or who claim to have used meteoritic material to make keris. Frankly, I have difficulty in understanding why everybody thinks its so special, because its not --- apart from the mystical belief thing.

I was welding meteoritic material --- actually, consolidating small pieces of Arizona meteorite --- back around 1987 or '88, and then I worked with Pandai Keris Yantono in producing a couple of keris with meteoritic pamor. It is possible these may have been the first keris of the modern era that used meteoritic material as the pamor. Its not difficult to weld, not much different to welding ordinary iron and nickel, but it does require more than 7 welds before its clean enough to use.

In any case, I don't have any problem with accepting that Bp. Basuki may have used meteoritic material --- Pandai Keris Yantono was very probably his teacher so he would have had the basics. My only question is where the video commentary says that meteoritic material was used in the keris in the video.

There may be a word that sounds similar to the word "meteor", but what we would need to hear is something like "sela asal langit", or maybe "sela saking langit". Don't forget, this is not Bahasa Indonesia, it is Krama Inggil.

I have had two native speakers of Javanese listen to the section of the commentary between 1.50 and 1.60 several times each to see if they can identify mention of anything that we might be able to interpret as "meteor", but regrettably neither are speakers of Krama Inggil so although they understand the commentary better than I do, their understanding is far from perfect. My son-in-law can speak Krama Inggil, but he's in Solo and I'm in Australia, and I won't be seeing him until December.

Since none of us can understand perfectly what is being said, why not just ignore the commentary and accept the video for what it is:- a very entertaining essay on forge work, certainly incomplete, and leaving a lot to the imagination, but entertaining none the less.

Additional comment:-

just read this:-

http://teknologi.news.viva.co.id/new...ra-deteksinya-


and found something interesting --- well, interesting to me, anyway ---


at the end of this article are two little pictures of five keris in a ploncon.

That picture has been lifted from my site.

Not the first time my site has been pirated by people in Indonesia, Solo tourist office lifted something I wrote and included it in their blurb. I don't really mind this, but it would be nice if people asked first, before just taking.

Anyway, here is the pic in full:-

[Pusaka]

A.G. Maisey,

My interest in the video really hinges around the exotic blend of metals used to make the pamor, for some reason I find the concept of unusual metallic blends in addition to ceremonies preformed most interesting.

There is nothing special about meteorite Iron chemically, its just a lump of Iron-nickel but we must put ourselves in the place of people who's only way to categorise metals or different Irons types was where it came from, its taste, its smell, its color, its texture and its sound.

A good keris is one that is physically well formed, has a good pamor and when struck rings like a bell. Since I am not qualified in this sound Science I cannot say if a keris made from unusual metallic blends inc meteorite, gold,silver,brass etc might be endowed with a quality of vibration that sets it aside as being something special or not.

What I can say is that for a people who traditionally followed a Vadic tradition a keris that when struck produced the AUM sound would be something very special!

[A. G. Maisey]

One of the beliefs surrounding pamor material is that the materials used should come from 7 different sources. This idea is also reflected in another belief that the blade when completed should be heat-treated by quenching in water from 7 different streams. These are only two of a myriad of beliefs associated with the keris, and almost none of these beliefs are universal. But they could be an interesting field of research for somebody so inclined.

The appearance of pamor in Jawa was very probably the result of the need to cleanse the poor quality, high phosphorus irons that could be produced from local sources, so that these irons could be put to use in the construction of weapons. The same thing that happened in Europe with the Scandinavians and Merovingians.

In Jawa the art of pamor was raised to another level with the influx of Islamic metal workers to the North Coast, together with the expansion of Islam and the decline of the Javanese-Hindu social structure. The early forms of the Modern Keris (ie, the keris as we know it now) had relatively simple pamors, and the earliest forms of the keris carried no pamor at all, but were plain iron.

Lists of various types of iron exist in the 19th and early 20th century literature, and these names and descriptions seem not to have been present prior to the rise of the form of keris mysticism that was associated with Dutch domination of the Javanese royal houses and aristocracy. In the little booklet "Wesiadji" published by Bliksem in Solo in 1934 there are 21 types of iron listed, along with descriptions including the sound made when struck, no mention is made of "Om" or "Aum". It may be an attractive idea to search for a belief that a particular type of iron could produce the "Om" when struck, but I have not yet encountered this belief.

Om is the smallest mantra, it is used to begin and close prayers. Since the symbolism included in the ornamentation of a keris can be interpreted as a prayer to several deities, the appearance of Om should be expected, and it can be found in the Ron Dha. However, for a Javanese Muslim the Ron Dha will be interpreted as "Allah". (see images)

The Modern Keris at its inception relied upon form for its position in Javanese court society, and it was an accoutrement of men of the palace hierarchy. The Muslim traders who lived in enclaves along the North Coast of Jawa were much given to imitating palace style, and they adopted the keris as an item of dress. When Islam replaced the Javanese-Hindu courts the keris began its spread to the common people, and lost the function it had in the courts as a hierarchical indicator. With this change in function the keris in Jawa acquired a whole new character, one that was a mixture of indigenous Javanese belief, Hindu-Buddhist-Javanese belief, and Muslim belief. This amalgam of beliefs generated a mystic character for the Javanese keris that was in many ways quite different to its original character. It is not so difficult to understand this ongoing societal development of the keris when we look closely at it over time.

The ceremonies performed in the making of a keris in Jawa are a reflection of one of the aspects of Javanese society, and in recent history have included elements of indigenous tradition, Hindu-Buddhist tradition and Muslim tradition. Layer upon layer of tradition, so to speak. For the most part these ceremonies seek to establish a harmonious atmosphere for an occasion or undertaking, an aura of wellbeing and the avoidance of misfortune. Participation in these ceremonies tends to settle the mind.

Shown here from left to right are:-

Om as the Ron Dha, one of the ways in which Om can be written, this particular way is probably the most prevalent way used in Bali, the name of Allah.

I posted these as separate images, but they have appeared as a single image. For those with belief in unseen forces this could well carry a special message.

[David]

Originally Posted by Pusaka

There is nothing special about meteorite Iron chemically, its just a lump of Iron-nickel but we must put ourselves in the place of people who's only way to categorize metals or different Irons types was where it came from, its taste, its smell, its color, its texture and its sound.

A good keris is one that is physically well formed, has a good pamor and when struck rings like a bell. Since I am not qualified in this sound Science I cannot say if a keris made from unusual metallic blends inc meteorite, gold,silver,brass etc might be endowed with a quality of vibration that sets it aside as being something special or not.

I don't think we need put ourselves in anybody's place to have an interest or find symbolism in the idea of forging a blade with metals that have fallen from the sky. The interest in such "star metal" is pretty much universal in cultures all around the world. That said though, i have never seen any proof that the use of meteoric ore in the making of keris pamor is anything but a relatively new idea in the long and storied history of the keris. I have found no evidence whatsoever for any recorded meteor falls in Jawa before the Prambanan fall sometime in the late 18th century and with all probability meteorite was not introduced into the forging process for keris until the very early 19th century. So if we conservatively place the beginnings of what we call the "modern" keris at the end of the 14th century we have over 300 years of keris production (and most probably more) where "good" and "mystically powerful" keris that provided important cultural functions were fashioned without the inclusion of meteorite and a few more hundred years before that where proto-keris such as keris buda probably did the same. So while i also think "star metal" is pretty cool stuff to symbolically include in a blade i also believe that the unsubstantiated importance on such metal in the production of "good" or "mystically powerful" keris is a bit of a red herring in the path of better understanding of this iconic cultural object. Far more "good" keris have been made without meteorite than with.
BTW, while i would certainly agree that a "good" keris should have "good" form, i don't think it necessarily need have any pamor at all to still be able to qualify as "good".