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preserved from rust by a coating of coconut oil

"The blacksmiths, makers of krisses, belong to a special caste, the pande, aristocrats among the lower classes who worship the fiery volcano Batur and are regarded as powerful magicians who understand the handling of iron and fire, two elements held in reverence since earliest times. The distinguished pandes are even respected by the proud Brahmanas, who consider themselves the highest form of humanity, and who are required to address a pande in the high language when the smith has his tools in his hands. It is said (according to Korn) that a pande who engaged a Brahmanic priest to officiate for him ("took holy water from a Brahmana") would lose his "pande power" (kepandean) and might even become a monkey."

are many popular beliefs concerning the life and power of krisses
is said that a witch-doctor, thru trance, can communicate with the spirit of a given kris and learn its past history
believed that the strange facination a kris has on certain individuals is the cause of amok
ancestral krisses are often held to have come from the heavens as a gift from the gods, and these krisses powerful amulets against calamities
follows the story of a kris in Ubud found in the roots of a waringin tree; finder afraid to keep it, so turned ut over to the Tjokorde of Ubud, but caused fires wherever it went
thru trances and consultations it was determined the fires would stop of the spirit of the waringin was placated by planting a sprig of it in Ubud; but thereafter the kris would tolerate nothinh above it a had to be kept in a roofless shrine and could not be taken out thru the doorway

next follows the long historical tale of Ken Arok, the bandit of peasant background who became a famous Javanese king of the thirteenth century - one of the great classics of Kawi literature

altho Ken Arok a bandit and criminal, had great charm; met the great Brahmana Lohgawe who claime desent from Wisnu; Lahgawe adopted Ken Arok and introduced him into the court of King Tunggul Ametung
King Tunggul Ametung had married the beautiful Ken Dedes, said to be the reincarnation of Dewi Sri because a glowing light irradiated from her womb
because Ken Dedes the daughter of a Brahmana, and the king who had stolen her of a lower caste, her father had cursed the king to die by a kris
Ken Arok an Ken Dedes immediately fell in love, and Ken Arok's Brahmanic friends saw the opportunity of revenge by encouraging Ken Arok to make love to Ken Dedes and murder her husband
with this purpose in mind, Ken Arok ordered a magic kris from Mpu Gandering, the most famous of blacksmiths, whose krisses had the power of killing at the first thrust
Mpu Gandering asked for 6 months in which to complete the kris, after shich time Ken Arok came impatiently to collect it
in a fit of temper, because the kris was not ready, Ken Arok

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