Kakawin
Kakawin are long narrative poems composed in Old Javanese, written in verse form with rhythms an metres derived from Sanskrit literature.[1] Using a literary language, rather than daily spoken usage, they were composed and performed at the courts of central and east Java kings between the ninth and sixteenth centuries,[1] and in Bali.[2]
Although the poems themselves nominally depict events and characters from Hindu mythology, they are set in the landscapes of the islands on which they were composed, and therefore are a rich source of information about courtly society in Java and Bali.[3]
Structure of a kakawin
A kakawin stanza consists of four lines. Each line has a set number of syllables per line, set in patterns of long and short syllables based on Sanskrit rules of prosody. A syllable which contains a long vowel is called guru (Sanskrit for "heavy') while a syllable which contains a short one is called laghu (Sanskrit for "light"). The term guru laghu denotes the structure of a line.
For example, each line of the kakawin metre Śardūlawikrīdita consists of 19 syllables. The guru laghu of this each line of this metre is as follows ---|UU-|U-U|UU-|--U|--U| U. A line - means that the syllable in question is long, while the U means that the syllable is short.
As an example, the opening stanza of the Kakawin Arjunawiwaha, which is in the metre Śardūlawikrīdita, is taken:
- ambĕk sang paramārthapaṇḍita huwus limpad sakêng śūnyatā
- tan sangkêng wiṣaya prayojñananira lwir sanggrahêng lokika
- siddhāning yaśawīrya donira sukhāning rāt kininkinira
- santoṣâhĕlĕtan kĕlir sira sakêng sang hyang Jagatkāraṇa
- A tentative translation in English
- The thought of the one who knows the Highest Knowledge has leapt from the emptiness.
- It is not because he wishes to fulfill his senses, as if he only wants to have the worldly things.
- The success of his virtuous and good deeds are his goals. He endeavours for the happiness the world.
- He is steadfast and just a wayang screen away from the "Mover of the World".
A syllable which contains a long syllable is automatically long (ā, ī, ū, ö, e, o, ai, and au) and thus guru. But on the other hand, a vowel which is followed by two consonants is also long. In addition to that the last syllable of a line may both contains a long or a short syllable. It is an anceps.
List of some famous kakawin
- Inscription of Śivagŗha, 856
- Kakawin Ramayana ~ 870
- Kakawin Arjunawiwaha, by mpu Kanwa, ~ 1030
- Kakawin Krsnayana
- Kakawin Sumanasantaka
- Kakawin Smaradahana
- Kakawin Bhomakawya
- Kakawin Bharatayuddha, by mpu Sedah and mpu Panuluh, 1157
- Kakawin Hariwangsa
- Kakawin Gatotkacaśraya
- Kakawin Wrtasañcaya
- Kakawin Wṛttayana
- Kakawin Brahmandapurana
- Kakawin Kunjarakarna, by mpu "Dusun"
- Kakawin Nagarakrtagama/Kakawin Desawarnana, by mpu Prapañca, 1365
- Kakawin Arjunawijaya, by mpu Tantular
- Kakawin Sutasoma, by mpu Tantular
- Kakawin Siwaratrikalpa/Kakawin Lubdhaka
- Kakawin Parthayajña
- Kakawin Nitiśastra
- Kakawin Nirarthaprakṛta
- Kakawin Dharmaśunya
- Kakawin Hariśraya
- Kakawin Banawa Sekar Tanakung
See also
Further reading
- A. Teeuw, 1950, Hariwangsa, Den Haag: Martinus Nijhoff. VKI 9. (Extracts of texts, in Dutch)
- Petrus Josephus Zoetmulder, 1974, Kalangwan. A Survey of Old Javanese Literature, The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff.
References
- ^ a b Taylor, Jean Gelman (2003). Indonesia: Peoples and Histories. New Haven and London: Yale University Press. pp. pages 32-33. ISBN 0-300-10518-5.
{{cite book}}:|pages=has extra text (help) - ^ http://wwwsshe.murdoch.edu.au/intersections/issue5/creese.html (Helen Creese "Images of Women and Embodiment in Kakawin Literature" Intersections: Gender, History and Culture in the Asian Context Issue 5, May 2001)
- ^ http://coombs.anu.edu.au/SpecialProj/APM/TXT/creese-h-02-96.html (Helen Creese "Temples of Words: Balinese Literary Traditions" Asia-Pacific Magazine No. 2 May 1996 pp. 38-43.)