Kris, the Heritage of Humanity

If you go to Jatinegara, in the district of East Jakarta, you will discover Pasar Rawa Bening, a market selling products which reflect the historical background of Indonesia. There are about 1000 stalls. Visitors usually come mostly on Saturday and Sunday. You will find keris, which has a strong influence among the Javanese, various gemstones, black bracelets made from tree roots and the Arab oil for the purpose of superstition. The overall market is a place to accommodate the purchasers who believe in something that can bring fame and fortune to them. In Javanese culture, a kris is not just a martial weapon but more as a status symbol of the owner.  The better the quality of the kris, the higher the status of the owner is. But owning a kris means having an obligation to follow the special ritual to maintain it such as to clean it annually and dry it under the sun.  Anybody who wants to buy it has to make sure that he will fit for a certain kris, and that the kris “likes to stay with him”. In such a case the purchasing power is not the most important thing. Rumors said that if a kris “doesn’t like to stay with him” bad thing might occur and will trouble the owner. Museum Pusaka If you have an interest and are more serious about a kris, you can visit Museum Pusaka, literally meaning sacred heritance museum, containing various kinds of krisses from all over regions in Indonesia. Located at Mini Indonesia Park Jakarta (TMII) on a site of 3,800 square meters, the museum is getting important today because the Indonesian kris has been recognized by UNESCO as the heritage of humanity. You can easily recognize the museum as it has a specific characteristic of a kris-like-model attached to the roof with its tip pointing out to the sky. The museum has special rooms for exhibition and sales, special information, management, conservations, and library. The museum, whose construction was initiated by the then First Lady, Ibu Tien Soeharto, in the 1980s, now collects some of the legendary krisses from the olden times, among others, Nagasasra Sabuk Inten from the Mataram Kingdom, Kujang from Pajajaran era or Singa Barong from Central Java ornamented with gold in-lay at its blade. The collections coming into the museum are from the donations of the haves and the purchase from locals in any provinces where the kris is well known and available.  To make the kris become more popular, the officials working here regularly hold exhibitions, sometimes under the cooperation with foreign partners. Heritage of Humanity Through the constant exhibition and reports in details as done by Kris experts like Haryono Guritno and Sungkowwo Harumbrodjo to UN officials, UNESCO finally in 2005 recognized it as the heritage of humanity. UNESCO pays attention to this Indonesian traditional dagger because of its various features. The unique form of the kris, the metallurgical process during the forging, the metaphysical feature as found in certain krisses have even attracted the interest of foreign people to know more about it. The process of carving, ornaments on the kris sheath the spiritual meditation prior to the forging all full of philosophy and mystical belief making this artistic weapon become an obscure mystery.

There are differences of opinion about the origin of the word "Kris". In the Encyclopedia of Kris sold in the museum, the first-word “keris” was written on a brass plate found around the year 825, in Karang Tengah village. 

Kris is an Indonesian traditional hand-held weapon with a length of about 30 to 40 cm (excluding handles) which has become popular and widely developed in Java and Southeast Asia since the 10th century. This weapon forged in such a way that both the blade sharp and asymmetric shape.

The curved shapes (“luk”) of kris generally were odd in number namely 3, 5, 7, 11, or 13. But there is also kris which is straight without “luk”. In the process of forging, the steel materials are mixed with titanium element or any material from the meteorite. A kris with such mixtures increases its prestige and obviously its price.  When it is still hot the sheets of iron and meteorite mixture are forged and folded into 2, 4, 8, 16, and so on until they reach 4.000 for a very good quality kris. 

To make a good kris one requires material of 20 kg iron, half kg of steel, and around a one-eighth kg of meteorite. In the end, we get only around a half kg of dagger blade, the remaining materials have been reduced into gas, ash and metal fragments. Such a kris ornamented with a plate of gold could be worth up to Rp 100 million (US$ 10,000).


But if you buy kris in a market like Jatinegara, you may get only a dagger blade made of ordinary iron tempered and formed in shape of kris. And you can bring home such a kris for around Rp 2 million (US$ 200) and even less if you are a good bargainer.

 

According to the tradition, especially Javanese one, to bear a kris is not simple and sometimes very complicated depending on what purpose one wears it. Some people believe that some rituals must be done in order to avoid disharmony between the kris and the owner, otherwise, disasters and tribulations could happen.

Having informed this do you want to possess one?