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Arjunawiwaha

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Balinesepalm-leaf manuscriptof theArjunawiwāhakakawin.
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Arjunawiwāhawas the firstkakawinto appear in theEast Javanperiod of the Javanese classical Hindu-Buddhist era in the 11th-century. It was composed by MpuKanwaduring the reign of KingAirlangga,king of theKahuripanKingdom, circa 1019 to 1042CE.Arjunawiwaha is estimated to have been finished in 1030.

The story[edit]

Thekakawinepic tells the story ofArjuna,an excellent archer and the third of the five legendaryPandawabrothers mentioned in theMahabharata.[1]It is set at the time when the brothers had lost everything to their rivals and cousins, theKorawa. Arjuna aims at regaining his family's fortunes by obtaining a weapon from the gods, and to that effect he practises meditation andasceticism- according to Robson (2001) on Mount Indrakila[2]as a symbol ofMount Meru. At the same time, the demon (asura) Niwatakawaca is disturbing the peace and order of the gods' abode (svargaloka) and can only be defeated by a man. The gods decide to test Arjuna and send him sevenapsarasto seduce him and lure him away from his quest. This failing to deter him from his meditation and ascetism, Arjuna is tested anew, this time to determine whether he seeks the welfare of others or only his own deliverance from the world.[2] To this purpose, the godIndradescends to earth disguised as an old Brahmana and discusses religious matters with Arjuna; Arjuna correctly answers Indra's questions, the latter then reveals his true identity and returns to svargaloka.[citation needed] Thus Arjuna passes this second test. He is then given the task of defeating Niwatakawaca. He eventually achieves this too, and receives a reward: seven days in heaven and marriage to each of the sevenapsarasin turn. At the end of the text, its author Mpu Kanwa adds that he is about to accompany his king Airlangga into battle.[2]

Along this quest, Arjuna receives weapons - but conflicting sidelines occur with the basic story: some mention only one weapon, others mention several weapons. One of these sidelines tells of the appearance of a boar, that Arjuna shoots; then a hunter comes in who claims to have hit the boar first and therefore it belongs to him. A dispute breaks out until Arjuna realizes that the hunter is Shiva. Shiva then presents Pashupata to Arjuna.[citation needed]
Another version is that Arjuna received the weaponpashupatastra(astra) twice from Shiva: the first time on the Indrakila mountain, where Arjuna also receives weapons from other gods — a club (yama–dandastraordanda), a loop (varuna–pasastraorpasa) and a weapon that gives invisibility (kubera–antardhanastraorantardhana); and a second time, on the 14th day of the Kurukshetra war, Arjuna meets Krishna in a dream and both go to Shiva who leads them to a pond where there are two snakes that turn into a bow and arrow.[3]

The morality in it is about not using the opportunity to obtain the highest benefit for oneself, such as liberation from the world (i.e. the cycle of reincarnations), but choosing to remain in the world in order to seek the welfare of others.[4]

Its place in history[edit]

In 1025 the IndianChola Empireattacked theSrivijayaconfederation of kingdoms, centred atPalembang(present South Sumatra) according to archaeological findings. Not only this seriously weakened Srivijaya;[5]it obliterated its scholarly scene, made of famous Buddhist teachers who had attracted students even from India.[6]Their works have been preserved in Tibetan translations.[7] Somewhat later, Islam as a new cultural force engendered a written literature in Malay.[8] This historical hiatus is what makes Old Javanese literature quite special for its rarity.[6] No other Indianized countries of Southeast Asia have produced comparable literatures[9]

During the 10th century, the centre of the Javanese kingdom moved from Central Java to the lower valley of the Brantas River in East Java. There it came under severe attack, possibly from Srivijaya;[6]At the time of theArjunawiwahawriting (assuming that that is between 1028 and 1035),Airlanggahas reasserted his position as king in East Java. Srivijaya and Java may have been competitors in the period leading up to this.[5]

Transformations[edit]

TheArjunawiwahais among the texts that survived in Java and was transformed by writers some centuries later. It was written inmacapatverse bySusuhunanPakubuwana IIIunder the titleSerat Wiwaha JarwaorMintaraga,dated 1778.[a]

It also took the titleSerat Wiwaha Jarwa,attributed toYasadipura Ibut in fact written byCarel Frederik[id],Sr. (1799–1859), and published by W. Palmer van den Broek in 1868.[10][4]

Translations and studies[edit]

The first known translation is in Dutch by R. Ng. Poerbatjaraka in 1926; it is deemed to have a few gaps.[11] In 1990, Wiryamartana publishes an Indonesian translation and a lengthy discussion on the transformations of the original text along the centuries.[12] Henry publishes a partial translation in 1981.[13] Robson publishes a complete translation in 2008.[14]

TheArjunawiwahais preserved in many manuscripts in Bali.[4] But in the 1970's, Indonesion languages specialist Christiaan Hooykaas (1902-1979)[15] was of the opinion that nobody in Bali knew anything about thetengahan[b]metresany more. In 1972, Robson published an article mentioning that in Bali, Old Javanese texts were still known, read and studied. Among its students was amabasan[c] group in the Pura Dalem in Pliatan, led by Ketut Lagas, who at that time worked on reading and interpreting theArjunawiwaha.[17]
Balinese collections contain hundreds of texts but only a few were regularly mentioned as important:Ramayana,Arjunawiwaha,Bharatayuddha,BhomantakaandSutasoma.These were deemed to convey edifying teachings; but this may be due to that the effort to preserve and define the Balinese spiritual heritage was led by the very activeParisadha Hindu Dharmamovement, that produced books intended for study and containing moralistic texts or guides for worship; and he Old Javanese classics provide a base for the Hindu society of Bali, legitimized by its high antiquity and having the authority of Scripture.[17]

Its place in religion[edit]

These texts' Scriptural authority reaches the religious rituals. As such, the “hymn to Siwa”, a passage from theArjunawiwaha(10-11) that is also quoted in theParisadha Hindu Dharmabooks, is part of a temple ritual. It starts with the words: “Om sěmbahning anātha tinghalana de trilokaśaraņa”( “Hail! May the homage of the protectorless be seen by the refuge of the three worlds.” ).[17]

Bas-reliefs depicting theArjunawiwahawere carved on East Javanesecandis(temples), such as Candi Kedaton inProbolinggo Regency,Candi Surawananear Kediri,Candi Jagonear Malang; and in Bali on Rambut Siwi in Mendoyo district,Jembrana Regency.

See also[edit]

Notes and references[edit]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ Serat Wiwaha JarwaorMintaraga,bySusuhunanPakubuwana III(1778), was published byJohann Friedrich Carl Gericke[id]in 1844.
  2. ^ Tengahan is a Betawi Malay dialect. SeeKevin Yusuf Tj."Language: Betawi Malay (Tengahan dialect)".lpan.eva.mpg.de.Austronesian Basic Vocabulary Database.Retrieved2024-06-01.
  3. ^ Amabasanis “a socially situated process of translation that has its own rules and its own aesthetic”.[16]

    sekaha mabasanclubs of modern Bali... are characterized by “extemporaneous glossing” using hermeneutical strategies that do not (primarily) involve analytical means, drawn from a systematic knowledge of morphology and grammar, or try to establish historical derivations and etymologies; they are mainly based on contemporary/popular lexical know-how, “folk etymology”, and associative thinking effected through homology, metaphor, and assonance. These techniques are akin to the Sanskritnirvacana,which unpack meanings from words rather than reduce them to their bare essentials.

    — Acri, Andrea; Hunter, Thomas M. (2020)."Translation as Commentary in the Sanskrit-Old Javanese Didactic and Religious Literature from Java and Bali"(PDF).Medieval worlds(11): 213-240 (see p. 214 note 3).Retrieved2024-06-01.

References[edit]

  1. ^Varela 2014,p. 382.
  2. ^abcRobson 2001,p. 35.
  3. ^"Pashupata".indian-mythology-dictionary.com.Retrieved2024-06-01.
  4. ^abcRobson 2001,p. 39.
  5. ^abRobson 2001,p. 36.
  6. ^abcRobson 2001,p. 37.
  7. ^ Schoterman, J. A. (1986). "Indonesische sporen in Tibet".Oosters Genootschap in Nederland.15.Leiden: Brill.Cited inRobson 2001,p. 37.
  8. ^ Jones, R. (1986). "The origins of the Malay manuscript tradition". In Grijns, C.D.; Robson, S.O. (eds.).Cultural contact and textual interpretation.Dordrecht: Foris (KITLV, Verhandelingen 115). pp. 121–143.Cited inRobson 2001,p. 37.
  9. ^ Zoetmulder, P.J. 1974 Kalangwan; A survey of Old Javanese literature The Hague Nijhoff. [KITLV, Translation Series 16.] Zoetmulder 1974:17). Cited inRobson 2001,p. 36.
  10. ^Wiryamartana,1990:325. Cited inRobson 2001,p. 39
  11. ^ Poerbatjaraka, R. Ng. (1926).Arjuna-Wiwaha; Tekst en vertaling.s-Gravenhage: Nijhoff.Cited inRobson 2001,p. 35.
  12. ^ Wiryamartana, I. Kuntara (1990).Arjunawiwaha; Transformasi teks Jawa Kuna lewat tanggapan dan penciptaan di lingkungan sastra Jawa(in Indonesian). Yogyakarta: Duta Wacana University Press.Cited inRobson 2001,p. 35.
  13. ^Henry, P. (1981).The Arjunawiwaha.Gaya, Bihar: Centre for Southeast Asian Studies.Cited inRobson 2001,p. 35.
  14. ^Robson 2008.
  15. ^ Swellengrebel, J.; Hinzler, H. (1980)."In memoriam C. Hooykaas"(PDF).Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde.136(2/3): 191–214.Retrieved2024-06-01.
  16. ^Hunter, Thomas M. (June 2022). "A forgotten philology".Journal of Southeast Asian Studies.53(1–2): 341–343.doi:10.1017/S0022463422000297.
  17. ^abcRobson 2001,p. 38.

Bibliography[edit]

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