Keris
What is keris ?
Keris is a Javanese sword (dagger).
In the ancient time, a man is not considered as a real man if he
has no keris.
The keris is highly valued, treated and respected with
special care.
This pusaka is usually inherited from fore fathers. According to
Javanese ancient tradition, especially in the court families, a father
was obliged to give to his adult son at least a keris.
In general, keris is divided to two important parts, the blade
(Wilah) and the scabbard (Warangka), to protect the blade.
The process of the making of the blade in the old days may last one
year only for one keris. The keris maker is called an Empu. Only
the respectable Empu's could make a high quality keris, physically
and spiritually. Empu has to do some spiritual deeds to prepare a
keris, like fasting, not sleeping for several days and nights,
meditation, etc.
In Principle, a keris is a personal sacred weapon, it is made by an
Empu, in accordance with the wish of the consumer. The
manufacturing of keris is complicated, for short as the following :
At workshop with good fire plate to case the row materials such
as 5 kg iron plate, measuring; 4 cm wide, 2 cm thick, 15 cm long;
50 gr of nickel and 0,5 kg of steel. The iron is heated until it
become smaller, it forges again and again.
The 5 kg iron become
2 kg forged iron. The nickel inserted in between the forged iron,
smolder them, forged them carefully to produce the desired
'pamor' or surface pattern. Afterward the steel sheet, together
with above forged iron and nickel, smolder and forge again.
In this stage the keris should be made Keris Lurus (a straight keris)
or Keris Luk (keris with curves). The keris should be formed in
accordance to the blue print, using several tools such as; rough
fine, triangular files, grindstone and chisels.
Afterwards the keris should be heated but not smoldered and than
plated, to make the keris more durable. After it has been plated, it
should be soaked in a mix solution of sulfur, lemon juice and salt.
The keris is ready and its weight is about 0,4 kg.The original spiritual power is the wishes of the Empu, the maker.
While preparing and making a keris, the Empu, in the holy state,
solemnly pray to God Almighty, the keris should contain spiritual
wishes as requested by the Empu or the consumer.
It depends who is going to use the keris, the mission should be
different, for instance, for the kings, begawans (priest), generals,
high ranking officials, farmers, traders, fishermen, workers,
soldiers, etc. So, it could be easy to understand that a keris which
good for king , may be not good for a trader.
The Additional and/or Other Spiritual Power of Keris.
The keris could be filled with spiritual beings, unseen by ordinary
people, such as a genie, (jin or qodam) in order to protect or to
help the keris owner.
