| Keris of Knaud | |
|---|---|
 The Keris of Knaud exhibited at the Amsterdam Museum of the Tropics. | |
| Material | iron and copper |
| Created | circa 14th century |
| Present location | Tropenmuseum, Amsterdam |
The Kris of Knaud, also known as the Keris of Knaud or Knaud's Kris, is the oldest known kris surviving in the world. [1] Given to Charles Knaud, a Dutch physician, by Paku Alam V in the 19th century, the kris is on display at the Tropenmuseum, Royal Tropical Institute in Amsterdam.
The kris bears the date of 1264 (which corresponds to 1342 AD) in its iron blade. Scientists suspect that due to its special features the kris is even older, but was decorated during the heyday of the Majapahit kingdom to celebrate an important event. [2] The kris bears scenes from the Ramayana on an unusual thin copper layer which partially covers it.
Charles Knaud (Batavia 1840 - Amsterdam 1897) was a Dutch physician and dukun (shaman) at the court of Yogyakarta. Knaud, who had studied Javanese mysticism, treated and cured the son of Paku Alam V (1878-1900), ruler of the hereditary Pakualaman principality in the Sultanate of Yogyakarta, of what the ruler believed to be black magic (guna-guna). For saving his son's life Paku Alam V granted him a prestigious heirloom, a kris. [3] It was the oldest kris in the prince's collection. [4]
From 1903, the kris was believed to be lost, but it remained in the possession of Knaud's family. Long after Knaud's death, during World War II, his family buried the Keris in their garden to protect it during the Japanese occupation. During the Indonesian National Revolution, they took it to the Netherlands, where it was safeguarded in the family's bank safe. [5]
In the 19th century, a plaster cast and a photograph of the kris were kept in the holdings of the Bataviaasch Museum of Arts and Archaeology. In 1920, N.J. Krom dedicated a full page to the keris in Hindoe-Javaansche Kunst. David van Duuren a curator with the Royal Tropical Institute happened to ask Knaud's descendant, Kurht Knaud, if he was aware of the rare kris that had once been in his family's possession and was surprised to discover it still was. Kurht Knaud loaned the keris to the Royal Tropical Institute, K.I.T., Amsterdam, where it has been displayed since February 2003. [5]
The kris or keris is a Javanese asymmetrical dagger with a distinctive blade-patterning achieved through alternating laminations of iron and nickelous iron (pamor). The kris is famous for its distinctive wavy blade, although many have straight blades as well, and is one of the weapons commonly used in the pencak silat martial art native to Indonesia. Kris have been produced in many regions of Indonesia for centuries, but nowhere—although the island of Bali comes close—is the kris so embedded in a mutually-connected whole of ritual prescriptions and acts, ceremonies, mythical backgrounds and epic poetry as in Central Java. Within Indonesia the kris is commonly associated with Javanese culture, although other ethnicities in it and surrounding regions are familiar with the weapon as part of their cultures, such as the Balinese, Sundanese, Malay, Madurese, Banjar, Buginese, and Makassar people. The kris itself is considered as a cultural symbol of Indonesia and also neighbouring countries like Brunei, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand.
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