A Visit to Java / With an Account of the Founding of Singapore

by W. Basil Worsfold

CHAPTER XIII.
THE HINDU JAVANESE LITERATURE.

The Hindu Javanese literature concerned with the past—​Javanese alphabet—​Extent of Javanese works—​ Kavi dialect—​Krama and Ngoko—​The Mahabharata and the Ramayana in Kavi—​Native Kavi works—​The Arjuna Vivaya—​The Bharata Yuddha—​Episode of Salya and Satiavati—​Ethical poems—​The Paniti Sastra—​ Localization of Hindu mythology in Java.

The literature of a country reflects its life, but under certain conditions. The literature of Java is mainly, but not entirely, concerned with the distant past, when the quiet tide of Eastern life had received as yet no disturbing impulse from the stream of Mohammedan and European conquest. This Hindu Javanese literature tells us of a people far advanced in the essentials of civilization, and reveals the existence of a social system which, though undoubtedly primitive, was at the same time complete and homogeneous. From the date of the Mohammedan conquest onwards, that is to say, for the last four centuries, the national life has been directed by alien forces. During this period but little or nothing has been added to the literature of the country, since the fresh ideas which have been introduced have come from Mohammedan conquerors, who were themselves provided with a sufficient medium of expression, and one which they sought, as a matter of policy, to impress upon the subject races of the island. Beyond enlightening us upon the social system prevalent many hundred years ago, it would seem that a knowledge of their literature could contribute but slightly towards a comprehension of the Javanese. This opinion, however, is modified by the fact that the Kavi literature has been popularized by translation into modern Javanese, and that the mass of the population are still acquainted with its main features by means of these versions accompanied by the representations of the theatre and the wayang. The ideals of conduct conveyed in these epics, romances, legends, and ethical treatises will, therefore, be those with which the Javanese are still familiar, and presumably such as still enlist their sympathies. Besides this general insight into native methods of thought, there are also certain features of their life and of their present relationship to their European conquerors upon which interesting lights are thrown by an acquaintance with the traditions and beliefs enshrined in the ancient literature.

The Javan alphabet, according to the native idea, consists of only twenty consonants. But as a matter of fact, each of these consonants is credited with an inherent vowel sound of a (often written o) as in water; and there are five vowel signs which are attached to the consonants, and so vary the inherent a. There are also twenty auxiliary consonant forms, corresponding to the original twenty consonants, which are used in all combinations of consonants. Even this does not exhaust the list, for there still remain a number of double letters, while modifications of the letters of the alphabet are employed for numbers. Speaking of this alphabet as a whole, Crawfurd says[21] that it reaches perfection, since "it expresses every sound in the language, and every sound invariably with the same character, which never expresses but one." He concludes, "In splendour or elegance the alphabet of the Arabs and Persians is probably superior to that of the Javanese; but the latter, it may be safely asserted, surpasses in beauty and neatness all other written characters." Some idea of the extent of the Javanese literature may be gained from the fact that M. Vreede's recently issued account of the Javanese manuscripts in the Leiden University Library[22] gives the names of some five hundred manuscripts, containing no less than one hundred and fifty separate works. And—to come nearer home—the collection of the Royal Asiatic Society contains as many as forty-four Javanese manuscripts, for which the society is mainly indebted to the generosity of Lady Raffles. No little interest and learning have been displayed by continental scholars in the study of these works; but, unfortunately, their valuable treatises, written in German, French, and Dutch, are not easily accessible to English readers. In order to find an account of the Javanese literature in English, we have to go back more than half a century to the works of Raffles and Crawfurd. Fortunately, the former has enriched his "History" with unusually full and interesting extracts from Javanese works. But since Raffles was in Java immense advances have been made, not only in our general knowledge of oriental languages, but especially in the interpretation of literature by means of antiquarian remains. It is not that his account is rendered worthless by these recent researches. On the contrary, in this latest work, Vreede's "Catalogue," we find frequent quotations from Raffles' appendices. At the same time, when we see how much he achieved with his inadequate materials, it is difficult to suppress a feeling of regret that the fuller information, which is available to-day, was not at the disposal of the author of a "History of Java." As I have embodied in the text some extracts from Raffles' translations, it may be well to say a word as to the value of these versions. What Vreede says of a particular passage is true of these renderings in general: "They are not literal translations, but the spirit of the work is well rendered."

In the present chapter we are concerned only with those Hindu Javanese works which are properly entitled to be classed as "literature." They are written in the Kavi or literary language. The term "Kavi" means the language of poetry, and this dialect is composed, to a great extent, of words of Sanscrit origin. Although the knowledge of Kavi was gradually lost after the Hindu supremacy was overthrown by the Mohammedans, modern Javanese contains but few Arabic words, especially differing in this respect from Malay. Two forms of modern Javanese are employed in everyday speech. First, the language of ceremony, called Krama; and, secondly, the common speech, or Ngoko (meaning literally the thou-ing speech). The Krama contains a considerable number of words derived from Sanscrit and introduced through the Kavi, and an admixture of Malay. It is used by the peasants and artisans in addressing the native princes. The Ngoko is spoken by the common people among themselves, and by the native princes in communication with their inferiors. The existence of this double language explains the fact (of which I have already spoken) that the Dutch have established Malay, and not Javanese or Sundanese, as the medium of communication between Europeans and natives.

The modified Hinduism which existed at the epoch of the Mohammedan conquest (1400-1500, A.D.) retreated very gradually in an easterly direction before the new religion. At the end of the eighteenth century there were still Hindus in Java, and to-day the ancient religion lingers in Bali, a small island off the south-eastern coast. In Bali, therefore, it is natural that we should find the fullest remains of such parts of the Kavi literature as are most closely identified with that of Continental India. Only fragments of the two great Indian epics, the Mahabharata, or "Great War of the Sons of King Bharata," and the Ramayana, or "Adventures of Rama," are found in Java; but in Bali Kavi versions of both appear. Neither of these versions, however; bears the Indian title of the original work. The Mahabharata, which, with its 220,000 lines, is the longest epic in the world, and which Sir Monier Williams calls "a vast cyclopædia of Hindu mythology," is known as "the Parvas." Of the eighteen parvans, or divisions, of the original, eight only are in existence in the Kavi version. Of these the first, Adiparva, is the best preserved, says Dr. Van der Tuuk; "but this also," he adds, "abounds in blunders, and especially the proper names have been so altered from their Indian originals as to be hardly recognizable."[23] As the name "War of the Bharatas" is applicable, strictly speaking, to only one-fifth part of the whole poem, it is probable that the great epic was not yet known under this title at the time when it was transported from India to Java.

The Ramayana appears in a slightly changed form in the Kavi version. The original Indian epic is divided into seven Kandas, or volumes, which are again subdivided into chapters. The Kavi version, entitled "the Kandas," contains the narrative of the first six Kandas. The seventh, the Uttara-Kanda, or supplementary volume, which gives an account of the descendants of Rama after his death, appears in the Kavi as an entirely separate work. It would appear, therefore, that neither of the two Indian epics had reached their final form when they were carried by Hindu colonists to Java. That part of the Mahabharata which afterwards gave the poem its distinctive title had not yet been written, or at least added to the central myth; and the Ramayana then contained only the history of Rama. Both poems appear, however, to have acquired a reputation for unusual sanctity. In Java and Bali both "the Kandas" and "the Parvas" are used as synonymous terms, and mean "the Sacred Books."

The difference between the Kavi and Indian versions of these epics seems to afford additional evidence—if any such were needed—that neither the Mahabharata nor the Ramayana is the work of a single mind, but that both are a collection or compilation of myths.

It is noticeable also that, in spite of the love of dramatic representation manifested so universally among the Javanese, the Indian dramas were not transplanted to Java. Dr. Friederich[24] offers an explanation of this. "Most of the Indian dramas," he says, "are of late times, and perhaps, at the time the Brahmans came to Java, were exclusively found at the courts of the princes."

We come now to the consideration of what may be called, by contradistinction to the direct versions of the Indian epics, the native Kavi works. The character of these poems—for all the Kavi literature is alike written in metre—is in the main mythological and romantic; but there are also to be found among them certain ethical and religious works. Although the subjects, the heroes, and even the metre in many cases, are still Indian, these subjects and heroes have been so completely identified with the local life that the poems are essentially Javanese.