Keris Sengkelat (Living Kriss)
Pamor : Wos utah
Tangguh : Kamardikan.
Wilah Length: 35cm
Gonjo Length: 9 cm
Pesi Length: 8 cm
Warangka : Ladrang Surakarta Kayu gembol Jati.
People in Indonesia wear a kris to decorate their clothes, especially for traditional celebrations like wedding, palace celebrations and other religious celebrations. The blade normally is made with iron and metal with a high concentration of nickel for the head part. People believed that an empu, a master of manufacturing the kris, gave a magical power to this blade meanwhile manufacturing the keris. Nowerdays Indonesian people give much money for a powerful and living kris. They don’t devide a kris to an old or new one, they devide a keris to a living kris (Keris hidup) or dead kris (Keris mati). There are stories that men still live after an attack to their lives if they were owners of special living kris. Nowerdays only a few master manufactures of a kris are still living and so only a few powerful krisses are manufactured.
In Indonesia, especially in Jawa island, a high school of mechanic damascene steel is founded. With this material since the 13 th century the kris was manufactured. A kris is a sword with a wavy blade like a snake and complicated pattern of different iron and steel phases. A special effect is reached by giving iron with nickel from a meteor to it. In this way you get the white and grey or black parts of the blade (pamor).
