On kris

Your feature on the kris (Kris, more than just a simple dagger, April 18) provided good insights into the remarkable tradition of the Javanese dagger.

I recall, in Solo around 1993, talking for hours with K.R.T. Hardjonegoro about the kris and other aspects of Javanese culture. I was fascinated by the expert evidence that says there is no doubt that the best kris blades were formed with the fingers. In one case at least, the vulva had been used to give a blade its texture. Given that this can only be done at white heat, how could this happen?

Hardjonegoro explained that the blacksmith or empu forms the kris during meditation. For some reason I asked the name of the specific meditation. I was astonished when he replied Kolo Cokro. This was an obvious link to Kalicakra, one of the highest initiations of Tantric Buddhism in Tibet.

More recent discussions with members of the Hindu faith also make it clear that many of the practices still continued by Tibetans and followers of Tibetan Buddhism are shared with current practices in Java and Bali.

Hardjonegoro himself has done much to help preserve the Javanese arts, not least by fostering an empu trainee who has developed to become a name in his own right.

Java and Tibet were linked, said Hardjonegoro, through 8th century Bengal, the seat of Tantric practice, which some argue was the final fruit of the once-great Indian civilization. Sitting chatting with him in his home filled with treasures of Java's Hindu-Buddhist past was a particular insight not only into the world of Java but also into what was once a mighty and enlightened empire.

KEITH LOVEARD

Jakarta