Subject: pendekar warrior

Culture: Javanese

Setting: wars of succession, Mataram sultanate 18thc

Object: keris daggers

Surakarta

* von Duuren 1998 p40

"It was ... in the central sultanates of Yogyakarta and Surakarta, the Lands of the Princes in the colonial era, that the hilt was developed which we all know and almost automatically associated with the Javanese kris. It is a pillar with a facetted cross-section, terminating, through a slight forward curve, in a round 'head'. Both the upper and the lower part of the front part have symmetrical carvings which closer inspection reveals as features: those of a sort of monster's head. The Javanese apparently concur with this assumption, as they define even its tiniest facial details in human anatomical terms."

* Frey 1988 p50

"The Surakarta style of kris hilt is surely the most beautiful single element in all of Indonesian art. It has an elegance, a grace and simplicity that defies description of sufficient subtlety to do justice to its exquisite form. No picture captures its spirit; its seven smooth planes are lost to tactile sense. The beauty of its austere form and delicate carvings is not well shown in flat illustrations. Only a keeper or collector of these pieces can know them well, and, as in the case of Javanese pamor, familiarity causes one to succumb to the charm of the elegant ukiran.

"Because of its flat sides the hilt is referred to as 'planar'. Except for the patra, the carvings on the inside faces, the hilt is otherwise unadorned. The patra are similar to the kala (demon) masks known as tao-tieh on Chinese bronzes and are curiously like the Arctic [SIC] Haida and Tlingit totem figures."

* World of the Javanese Keris p

Majapahit

* Ghiringhelli 2011 p20

"The word sajen means offering or sacrifice, and indeed these small krisses were used in ceremonies held before planting rice, blessing the village, or to protect the harvest, or the catch in the case of a fishing community, as well as serving as an amulet for individual people. They are still made entirely of forged iron and apart from a few exceptions they are never over 27 cm in length. The hilt is rather flat and generally represents an ancestor. In addition to these sacrificial krisses, which go back to the time of the Majapahit empire (eastern Java, 14th cent. to ca. 1520), when ancestor worship was common, other similar but much longer ones measure between 36 and 42 cm. These heavy daggers had blades that were very like the krisses we see today, and were designed to be worn at court. In the West both types of kris were wrongly known as kris Majapahit."

* A passion for Indonesian art 1996- p44-45

"[A]mulet kris ... have a fixed hilt and are entirely forged from iron. Following the earlier Javanese custom of attaching the prefix 'Majapahit' to every pre-Islamic antique, these kris are still mistakenly called 'keris Majapahit' in Western literature. The earliest specimens, however, are much older than the Indo-Javanese kingdom from which they derive their name. The oldest are estimated to be more than one thousand years old and it is not known who made them or for what purpose. For a long time they were considered to be a sort of prototype of kris from which all later models evolved. Popular tradition has it that demi-godlike smiths from a mythical past forged them with their bare, fireproof hands. And the Javanese regard them as extremely powerful amulets which provide protection against disease and harvest failure.

"The hilt of an iron amulet kris is fashioned in the shape of a standing or sitting figure whose elementary form is reminiscent of some ancestor figures from other parts of the Indonesian archipelago. The blade is usually straight, occasionally slightly wavy, and shows only rudimentary decoration. ... Amulet kris were so highly prized for their magical properties that they were still being made in many different variants until very recently."

* von Duuren 1998 p14-16

"Investigation showed that they were carefully secreted and venerated family heirlooms which for many generations had been passed on from father to son. To their owners they were powerful amulets which invoked good luck and protected the crops from disease and vermin. Nobody knew exactly who had made them or where they came from. They had never been used as stabbing weapons.

"Those small krisses soon became known as keris majapahit, after that mighty Indo-Javanese empire which, by the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, made up an extensive part of the Indonesian archipelago. It was the Javanese custom to call all things ancient and antique 'majapahit', indicating that they were commonly accepted as being from pre-Islamic times. So these amulet krisses are not from Majapahit itself: that princedom specialized in technically sophisticated metalware, such as finely cast bronze idols and beautifully forged krisses.

"Scientists agreed that with the keris majapahit had surfaced the 'proto kris', that copied ray tail from which every later kris model had supposedly evolved. The keris majapahit looks primary indeed: it is forged from a single piece (hilt and blade are actually one chunk of iron), while a rather rough and angular little figure, which either stands or sits in a crouching attitude, dominates the hilt. Its arms are folded across its chest, and sometimes it wears a sort of cap. The blade is usually straight and roughly made, and reveals traces of welded strips of iron. Overall the keris majapahit is unmistakably a kris, yet its hilt resembles those sculptures of ancestors or village guards found specifically outside Java, in Kalimantan or the Moluccas.

"The origins of this 'primitive' old-Indonesian design date from way before the Hindu and Islamic ages, and so actually do reach back into Indonesian prehistory. Some experts think that the oldest specimens must be over a thousand years old. But who forged them and why? We do not know! The Javanese, however, have legends bearing upon this problem. According to tradition, smiths from the misty, mythical past hammered the krisses into shape from red hot iron with their bare hands. Certain specimens bear the unmistakable traces of the fireproof fingers that moulded them: the blades have little sunken spots, miraculously matching the fingertips of a small hand. Because of these mysterious, unexplained and apparently pointless additions to the blade, this type is also known as the keris picit, or 'pinched' kris.

"Over the centuries the so-called majapahit krisses apparently proved their reputation as powerfully protective amulets, as far as the people were concerned. They were manufactured up to very recent times, and also include diverse transitional forms which gradually resembled the usual, familiar krisses more and more. Not long ago two of these, which, according to their owner, originated from Sumatra, were shown to a staff member of the Tropenmuseum. They were, indeed, made of pure iron but with short, undulating blades and a magic formula in gold-coloured metal inlay. These 'proto krisses' were undoubtedly of recent manufacture, perhaps from the last century: a figurine pictured on one of the hilts is wearing an engraved 'common' kris on his belt."

* World of the Javanese Keris p12

"Another enigmatic group of keris have simple blades and stylized human figure hilts made from one piece of forge-welded iron. Western literature generally calls them keris majapahit (a term not used in Solo) and, with little proof, popularly labels them as the oldest kind of keris. They are not worn, and the handle and blade orientation is the reverse of other keris -- the rudimentary ganḍik is on the right side of the front face. Keris majapahit served as amulets to protect crops from disease and bring good luck; they are said to have been incorporated into offerings to the gods or ancestors. In some the hilt is a generalized upper torso with head, in others a standing figure with bent knees, or a squatting figure. Similar one-piece ritual daggers of bronze or iron, with anthropomorphic hilts, have been found in Vietnam and Borneo. The Paiwan people of Taiwan also use daggers of this type but with iron blades and bronze hilts. The distribution of these daggers suggests they are a Southeast Asian indigenous form."

* Zonneveld 2001 p69

"Later examples [of keris majapahit] increasingly resemble 'normal' kerisses. The blade is rather roughly forged. The asymmetrical broadening at its base is far less pronounced than that of the normal keris. The keris majapahit does not have a forged ganja, but sometimes these are indicated by scratching in the blade. Most blades are straight, but undulating blades do occur. On nearly all examples of such kerisses traces of welded strips of iron can be found. Simple pamor is common. The hilt has the shape of a more or less stylised human figure, sometimes standing, sometimes squatting. This figurine often holds its arms folded across the chest and has a kind of small cap on its head. Simpler examples have only a smooth body and head. The front of the figurine usually faces the flat side of the blade. Some examples show the figurine facing the edge (on the side where the base of the blade protrudes least).

"A keris majapahit was presumably never used as a stabbing weapon. It usually goes without a scabbard. If it does have one, the scabbard is of a more recent date, and often very plain."

* Royal Armouries Museum > Oriental Gallery

"[....] The kris majapahit is acknowledged as the earliest form of kris. Kris of this type are characterised by having the hilt, usually in the form of a human figure, formed from the tang of the blade."