Bharatayuddha (An Old Javanese Poem and Its Indian Sources)

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This edition of the Bharatayuddha provides an extensive introductiom, a romanised text, an English translation, detailed annotations and indexes, of the Old Javanese poem or kakawin, uniquely wrinen by two poets, mpu Södah and Pamuluh, in 1057 AD. The number of its manuscripts available today it an indication of the high esteem accorded to it throughout the centuries. With the ninety odd manuscripts that are now listed in the catalogues of public libraries in various countries, this kakawin of just over 730 stanzas is by far the most ofien copied Old Javanese work that has come down to us. The great war between the Pandawas and their cousins the Korawas is still the best known story among the Javanese people. The Mahabharata grew, developed and flourished in the istand of Java, in various forms of artistic expression, noch as literary genres, sculpture, painting and performing arts. More than half of the kakawin poems discussed by Zoetmulder in his survey of Old Javanese belles-lettres have heros and heroines from the Mahabharata. Among them the tharatayuddha is the most outstanding poetical work.

The present edition of the Bharatayuddha is preceded by a detailed introduction on the relationship of the Sanskrit Mahabharata and the Parwas in prose, composition of the Bharatayuddha in the twelfth century, its comparison with the Malshiharata and the Ol Parwas, all its available manuscripts, their selection and arrangement. The Bharatayuddha is one the few Of works that can be dated with certainty and thus provides a milestone in the literary chronology of Indonesia. The commencement of us composition can be determined to the day: 6 September 1157. It was written under the patronage of king Jayahhaya, who appears in the poem five times and is also known from there inscriptions. Sõjah's work "fauhless in i pornic qualities" was completed by poes Panuluh. By the order of king Jayahhaya himself, Panuluh undertook the task of completing the snfinished poom, commencing from the episode of Salya becoming commander of the Korawa army. This dual authorship is unique in Indonesian kakawin writing. The entire poem consists of 52 cantos with 731 vernes it it a sapsafari or setticento. Panuluh has left so posterity two other major kakawinc Hariwarila and Ghatotkacalraya, which makes him one of the most prolific kawi writers from ancient Indonesia.

The editor Dr. S. Supomo draws comparison between the Bhäratayuddha (BY) and the Sanskrit Mahabharata, and not with the Parwas: since only two parwas, Udyoga and Bhişma, are available in Old Javanese. Every verse of the BY is concorded with the Sanskrit text in the Critical Edition of the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, with a summary of every Sanskrit passage. References to the corresponding passages of two parwas are also given. The BY follows the episodes of the war as recounted in the Sanskrit Mahābhārata and its dependence on the Sanskrit Epic is clear. Certain parts of the narrative are derived from the OJ prose Parwas, and not directly from the Sanskrit itself. The prose Parwas had been in existence for more than a century and a half before poet Sedah began his composition of the BY. The ultimate source of the third part of the BY is the Dronaparvan in the Northern recension. Though the BY is less than four percent of the six corresponding Sanskrit parvans, it has passages with no comparable parts in Sanskrit. Additions and variations adapt the Epic to the Indonesian genius: for instance aji or battle scenes are one of the important requirements of a kakawin. New female characters like Kşitisundari and Sugandhikä seem to have been widely known through oral tradition or wayang performances.

The editor Dr. Supomo opines that OJ Dronaparwa, Karmaparwa, Śalyaparwa and Sauptikaparwa existed before the composition of the Bharatayuddha in AD 1057. Then ten manuscripts, whose variant readings constitute the critical apparatus, have been described at length.

This work is an in-depth study of the processes of acculturation with innovation. It is a rich contribution to the history of the Classical literature of Indonesia. It makes a delightful reading of the poem in its simple English rendering that echoes the charm of the original. The translation conveys the deft thrust of Indonesia's golden voice, the shapes of her heart, the spilling over of her Classical sparkle, as subtle as incense, the breath of her own heaven, whom the gods watch over.

Dr. S. Supomo is a leading expert on the Kakawins of ancient Indonesia. His critical edition, translation and study of the Arjunawijaya of Mpu Tantular appeared in 1977 as the 14th volume of the Bibliotheca Indonesica, The Hague. He was been the Head of the Southeast Asia Centre of The Australian National University, Canberra. He has devoted about thirty years to the present critical edition of the Bharatayuddha which has over ninety palmleaf manuscripts.

The main purpose of the present publication is to provide a romanised text and an English translation of the Bharatayuddha, an Old Javanese poem, or kakawin, uniquely written by two poets, mpu Sedah and Panuluh, in AD 1057. If the number of manu-scripts of certain works which are available today may be used as an indication of the high esteem accorded to those works throughout the centuries, then the Bharatayuddha must have been the most popular work of the Javanese past. With the ninety odd manuscripts that are now listed in the catalogues of public libraries in various countries, this kakawin of just over 730 stanzas long is by far the most often copied among Old Javanese works that have come down to us. Only two other kakawin, the Ramayana and the Arjunawiwaha, have more than 50 manuscripts each, while the rest mostly have less than ten manuscripts. Moreover, the manuscripts of the Bharatayuddha hailed not only from the island of Bali, where many of the Old Javanese works have survived the ravages of time, but also from Java, where the change of religion and the subsequent social transformation that occurred since the sixteenth century must have affected the preservation of the literary products of the Javanese past. It is not an exaggeration then, when, writing in 1817, Sir Stamford Raffles, the former British Lieutenant-Governor of Java and its dependencies, stated that the Bhäratayuddha was 'the most popular and celebrated poem in the (Javanese) language.