McDonald, Barbara
Description
The aim of this study is to examine the texts which Pigeaud
(LIT.vol.I/237) has classified as kawi miring, the Arjuna Sasrabau,
Bratayuda, Rama, Bima Suci (Dewa Ruci) and the Panitisastra. These
poems have been loosely ascribed to Yasadipura I and authorship will
be considered in relation to individual texts. The term kawi miring
has been used to describe a particular genre of literature which
emerged in the Central Javanese court of Surakarta in the late eighteenth
century. As the term...[Show more] literally suggests, texts classified
as kawi miring were considered to have been written in a poetic medium
that 'inclined' towards the 'kawi' texts of the Old Javanese period,
hence Pigeaud's definition:
'sloping kawi in contradistinction to the real kawi of the
old texts' (LIT.vol.I/23).
The genre remained in vogue for a brief period which corresponds with
the so-termed literary 'renaissance' in the Surakarta court.
The Modern Javanese versions of the kakawins are hardly representative
of Javanese literary activity in the late eighteenth/early
nineteenth century but the refashioning of classical literature has
been the cornerstone upon which notions of a literary 'renaissance'
were built. Focusing upon the Modern Javanese kakawin-based texts
necessitates a closer examination of the Javanese tradition kakawin
manuscripts and raises the question of the manner of transmission
and the tradition of interpretation of the kakawins over the passage
of literary history in Java. The Javanese tradition variations on
the Balinese manuscripts are commonly considered as corruptions and
the eighteenth century versions of the kakawins are subsequently
cited as evidence of an inability to 'correctly' render the Old Javanese material into a Modern idiom. This study proposes the alternative
view that the adjustments within the Javanese tradition
manuscripts and the consistent tenor of the Modern Javanese versions
argue for a continuity of interest and interpretation. The concept
of a literary 'renaissance' should therefore be re-examined within
the context of Javanese traditions rather than from a tabling of
the many variations from the edited versions of the kakawins which
were based on Balinese manuscripts.
The evaluation of the kawi miring texts during the course of
this study, with reference to the established metrical forms of
kakawin and macapat, will not seek to defend or exaggerate the
literary merits of the genre but rather to examine its relevance
and function within eighteenth century court circles.
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