Keris Mistakology

sumber foto: pasarmadura.com

Due to Indonesia’s paternalistic culture, it often happens that people asks for information on keris to them who are considered the elderly.

According to Toni Junus, the General Secretary of Panji Nusantara, a keris enthusiast organization, there are many wrong perception on keris that goes on in public. “Some of them are the percep-tions that keris is a mystical item that can bring people wealth, strength, luck, and others.”

Keris has thousands of motive (charm) alternatives with each their own meaning. The motives represent the wish of the person who ordered the making. “For instance the udan motive, which has the meaning of wealth. The keris in this matter plays the role of a motivational item to get the owner working more diligently and yielding wealth.”

Due to the paternalistic Indonesian culture, it often happens that people ask for information to the elderly, when not all of them have sufficient knowledge and comprehension on the keris. “Because of the lack of basic knowledge, it’s easy for them to say that the keris is an item of horror that requires cleansing and so on and so forth,” said Toni.

Other misconception on the keris is located on the custom of cleansing (bathing) it. The main goal of this process is to pre-vent the keris from corrosion. However for many people the process then goes on a different interpretation to a ritual to honor the keris as a mystical item that is perceived to have supernatural powers. Bathing is done to “please” the super-natural entiry that dwells in the keris.

“This mistake started with the tradition of keris bathing in the roy-alty. The kings back then needed a way to preserve the hegemony of their regime; that is why they feel something needs to be done in the name of ‘communal sacred” ceremony,” explained Toni.

And then evolved the sacred keris cleansing ceremony in the month of Suro that is then continued with a parade to carry the charms around the area. The ceremony then progresses to the praying rituals to wish the country wealth, protection from diseases, and others.

“This is a positive gesture, but what’s wrong is common people’s interpretation that claims the keris must be cleansed to keep the spirits from raging. When in all truth, that is not the meaning of cleansing,” Toni regretted.

The process of keris cleansing is firstly done by mixing warangan (arsenic crystal compound) with citric acid (usually from lemon juice). The formula is used to prevent corrosion on the Keris. In the process of keris making, the compound is also used to bring out different colors on the keris’ charm (motive). After the cleansing process is done, the keris is then smeared with oil to complete the anti-corrosion layer on the keris.

Unfortunately the formula of warangan compound and citric acid also has a damaging character when done too many times. “That is why many of the keris then get damaged,” Tony elaborated.

Once a foreign researcher namely Garret Soul Young said to him that a keris should actually be cleansed only once every ten years. “As long as the keris is not contaminated by salt or water, the chemical compounds used is effective enough to prevent it from corrosion.”

Toni perceives the misunderstanding of keris as one of the main reasons why modern society tend to keep their distance with the item. “Without knowing they already see it as a mystical item, afraid of infidelity and all.” That is why he tries hard to straight the misun-derstanding back.

Together with Panji Nusantara, Toni makes the effort of conduct-ing various activities for the sake of popularizing keris back to soci-ety. One of which is by making a simple periodicity to qualify keris based on the time of produce. “There are only two main qualifica-tions; before and after independence. The keris those are made after independence are called the Kamardikanis.

Collectors used to be interested in purchasing keris from old ages, but now the Kamardikan keris have gained a place in public, During the grand exhibition of Keris for the World held at the Indone-sian National Gallery a while back, many of the Kamardikan keris were retailed with high pricing. The works of Toni, Nyi Kanjeng Daratista (several kerises those were made inspired by the singer Inul Daratista) were purchased by a collector with the price of mil-lions of rupiah. n

take from: arti edisi 29, juli 2010