Balinese Keris Exhibition in Hollenstedt, Germany

[A. G. Maisey]

Jean, if this book says that ilining warih is equivalent (ie, the same as) beras wutah, they are wrong.

Sorry, but they misunderstand.

Beras wutah (wos wutah, wusing wutah --- and a number of other spelling variations) is the major random pamor pattern:- you take the material, fold and weld a few times, forge the keris, carve: job done. Result:- random pamor:- beras wutah.

However, that random pamor has a number of variations in form, so we can have different wos wutah motifs; this is so in Javanese wos wutah and also in Balinese wos wutah.

The text in "Keris Bali Bersejarah" was written by Basuki Teguh Yuwono, a young Javanese gentleman who is a product of the Central Javanese keris school of Solo, and this background shines through consistently in his text.

On pages 97 & 98 of "Keris Bali ---" there are photos of various random pamor motifs. These pamors are all named as Wusing Wutah (ie, beras wutah, wos wutah), but then the motif variation is named, and ilining warih is one of these beras wutah motif variations, along with ngulit semangka, pulo tirto. gedhegan, gedhegan bulat, semangka wengkon, ngintip, wengkon.

So ilining warih is definitely not equivalent to beras wutah, it is motif variation of beras wutah.

We can find exactly the same thing in Jawa.

Strictly speaking the pamor motif should be named as "Beras Wutah, ilining warih", but who is so tightly controlled in terminology all the time? Not me, that's for sure, so mostly we just use the name of the motif variation, same as if we are talking about a motor vehicle, we don't always say "Ford Mustang", mostly we just say "Mustang":- everybody knows its a Ford.

Re the pamor being difficult to see. Is it possible that these blades with difficult to see pamors are older blades? Mostly very old Bali blades do not have high contrast pamor, it is often, maybe usually, quite dark, very little contrast, especially in keris that would have been the property of common people.

[Jean]

Hello Alan,
Thank you for your reply.
In the English version of the booklet, the pamor description is as follows: "Pamor in Balinese teminology ilining warih (flowing water) in Javanese beras wutah". A bit confusing? It was my impression that pamor Ilining Warih in Java is not a variation of Beras Wutah but more similar to pamor Adeg?
And regarding the pamor contrast of the blades, it is generally good but not clearly visible only because of the black background and the (too) dark shade of the pictures, it would appear much better on a clear background.
Regards

[A. G. Maisey]

As I said Jean:- that is wrong.

Ilining warih is one of the variations of wos wutah:- it's still wos wutah, but sub-motif ilining warih --- at least according to Basuki Teguh Yuwono in "Keris Bali ---' .

I have never seen a pamor in a Javanese keris that anybody referred to as ilining warih. In fact, even though this name could legitimately be used to describe a pamor in a Javanese keris, I've never heard it used.

The word "warih" is Javanese literary usage and in Bali it has a similar position in the hierarchy of usage, it is a Kawi word, which means it is literary usage and it is also OK for court usage.

I do not speak Balinese, I pulled all this out of a dictionary. I asked a Balinese lady I know first, but she only speaks low level Balinese.

However, "ilining" is legitimate Javanese usage. The name ilining warih is legit Javanese usage, it is not normal Balinese, but it may be in use in Balinese as a combination of Kawi + the word "ilining" which could perhaps be deemed a foreign word because it is Javanese.

So let's accept that it is legit usage in both places, even though I have never encountered it in use anywhere.

The only illustration I can find of ilining warih is in Harsrinuksmo, and that entry goes on and describes what I know as an adeg pamor. As is not uncommon with Harsrinuksmo, I think it may be another of his, let us say, "journalistic" entries.

This is a common criticism of Harsrinuksmo, and it could well be unjust. He did not hold himself forth as a keris expert, but rather as a writer about keris. He sourced his info from various accepted keris authorities.

One of the very well known characteristics of information sourced from Javanese informants is that if you ask a question you will be given an answer and the answer you get is very likely to be the answer that the informant thinks will please you. You need to be very close to somebody before you get a "sorry, I don't know", or even a 100% genuine transfer of information, which even then must be questioned and validated.

To be able to name any pamor with reasonable accuracy you need to understand how it was made.

In the Balinese examples that Basuki Yuwono names as "wusing wutah --ilining warih" the pamor has been made by welding the layers of contrasting pamor material with minimum distortion, and then cutting the kruwingan to expose the separate layers of pamor mlumah. In effect we are looking at "laying down pamor" that has carefully had the distorted layers of material removed to expose principally parallel layers of material.

In an adeg pamor we are looking at a pamor miring, where the layers of pamor have been manipulated in the forge so that they stand at 90 degrees to the core of the blade:- a "cross-ways" pamor.

Yet Harsrinuksmo tells us that ilining warih is similar to adeg?

Come on, the bloke simply didn't know what he was writing about and that means his informant didn't understand what he was talking about. Don't think that just because something is written by an Indonesian, or a Javanese, that they all know what they're talking about --- or that they necessarily want to tell you everything they know.

But Basuki Yuwono does know what he's talking about. He is a skilled pande keris in his own right. Some would accord him the title of empu.

In summary:-

Yuwono is right.

Harsrinuksmo is wrong.

Whoever believes that ilining warih is not a sub-motif of beras wutah is very misguided.

~~~~~~~~~~~

re the indistinct pics --- understood, thanks

[Jean]

Thank you Alan for your detailed and thorough reply, especially the difference between pamor Ilining Warih and Adeg.
I hope that you will have the opportunity to see the catalog yourself for getting a more complete idea. What disturbs me as I said is that a number of blades identified with pamor Ilining Warih do not show principally parallel layers of materials.
And about the pictures, sorry I should have said too dark shade instead of colour.
Regards

[A. G. Maisey]

I understood what you meant about the pics Jean, no problems there.

I doubt that I'll see the catalogue Jean. What you say about the contents I find disappointing, so I'm most certainly not going to waste my money on a book that is riddled with error on something as simple as the thing we have been discussing.

I have seen a parade of books about keris over the last 20 years or so.

A parade.

All waving their multi-coloured flags and all babbling on about irrelevancies.

Lots of pretty pictures of things that the authors do not seem to have even the smallest understanding of.

The foundations of my own knowledge came from a man who never wrote a book.

But his constant criticism was this:-

"If somebody wants to write about keris, why don't they learn about keris before they start to write?"

I've felt the same way for a long time now.

[Jean]

Hello Alan,
Of course you won't learn anything from this catalogue but in spite of my specific comments I would not want to leave a negative opinion to other collectors. The effort from the authors is still appreciated and the booklet attractive to read for most kris collectors, and after all there are only few books relevant to the Balinese krisses (Neka and Dibia, and Djelenga for the krisses from Lombok).
Regards

[Marcokeris]

I have red the book and I think it is very well done and perfect with the museum exhibition and good to increase the interest in the kris to those who still do not know them.