The keris owned by Hang Tuah (the most illustrious Malay hero in Melaka, Malaysia) was called Taming Sari. It was special in that it was made of twenty types of iron - supposedly metal left over from the forging of the bolts of the Ka'aba.
It was said that Taming Sari could do Hang Tuah's fighting for him - if Hang Tuah were menaced or in any way endangered, the keris would leap out of its sheath all by itself, fly through the air and attack the assailant, moving in the air whichever way the assailant dodged or turned, until it hit its mark.
The whole of the 'sampir' and 'batang' are covered in gold leaf.
Hang Tuah represented that absolute loyalty - and the streak of loyalty to the ruler that ran deep in the Malay psyche. If there are three things that were important to the Malay of old, it is loyalty to ruler, religion and 'adat', and the accompanying sets of values that come with them.
