An old text brought to life again; A reconsideration of the 'final version' of the Babad Tanah Jawi

Abstract

In Javanese literature the generic term for 'stories about past events' is babad.This term is applied to a wide range of texts, but the one which has attracted by far the most attention from scholars of many disciplines is the Babad Tanah Jawi.In J.J. Ras' words (1992a:184), it 'occupies a unique position with regard to the other babads'.This is due, according to Ras, to its 'specific character', because '[i]t was written at the royal court by a pujangga dalem, i.e. a person well-versed in letters holding the highest clerical rank at court.Originally this post was held by a kind of religious official.'(Ras 1992a:184.)The Babad Tanah Jawi is not some notebook or chronicle in prose, but a poem written in Javanese metres (tembang macapat).Ras has expounded his views on the genesis and function of the 'final' Surakarta version of this babad, commonly known as the 'Major Babad', in a number of fairly recent publications (see especially Ras 1987b:ix-lxiii, and also Ras 1992aRas , 1992bRas and 1994)).Ras' theory is that this text served to legitimize the reigning king's position as ruler.The aim of the 'chronicle of the realm' was to prove the ruler's right to the throne by virtue of ancestry and divine predestination.It justified the present by an authoritative account of the past.The Major Babad is said to be the product of a process of more than two centuries of constant writing and rewriting.Ras argues that the text probably originated in around 1612, with the rewriting of the Babad Demak on the orders of Panembahan Seda ing Krapyak (c? 1601-1613), the ruler of the nascent realm of Mataram in Central Java.It was completed during the reign of his son, Sultan Agung (1613-1649), and functioned as a charter to legitimize his rule.Subsequent rewriting, necessary for the periodic updating of the text, mostly involved only minor adaptations and interpolations.After particular crises, however, a drastic recast was necessary.For this purpose, prophecy and allusion were resorted to as literary devices.Prophecies and E.P. WIERINGA took his PhD at the University of Leiden and

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