G.W.J. Drewes – författare

New edition and complete translation of the sixteenth-century Javanese Muslim text "e;The Admonitions of Seh Bari"e;. In his introduction, Drewes discusses the manuscript, script, spelling, punctuation, author, contents of the work, main ideas of the work, the Catechism drawn from this text, and a comparison of the Catechism with the main text.

The tale of King Angling Darma, who understood the language of the birds, is of Indian origin. A relative short story of world-wide distribution, it has grown into a full-scale narrative relating the amorous exploits of this king after a curse by an offended goddess. This narrative forms the subject matter of the kidung Aji Darmi of which the text and translation are presented here. Furthermore this work comprises of i.a. summaries of the hikayat Shah Mardan; similar stories in the Tantri and in the hikayat Bayan Budiman; unpublished redactions of the Serat Angling Darma, including that contained in the Serat Kanda, in the Pustaka Raja by Ranggawarsita and in the wayang madya repertoire. A short chapter deals with the visual representation of some episodes from the tale which occur, for example, in the reliefs of the Candi Jago.

These two poems are genuine Acehnese. They are not translations or adaptations of foreign works of fiction, as many Acehnese literary products are, nor do they deal with fictitious events originating from the writer's romantic imagination. Both deal with actual life on Aceh itself and are illustrative of disruptive factors in nineteenth-century Acehnese society. As such they are of more than mere literary or linguistic concern. The first text, Hikajat Ranto, is a piece of social criticism. It offers a graphic description of the domestic discord which makes men seek their fortune among the pepper planters of the West Coast, where life is ungodly and unrestrained, and of various responses to their protracted absences on the part of the wives, children, and parents. The second text, Hikajat Teungku de Meuke', depicts the annoyance and political discord engendered by the high-handed proceedings of a religious leader, and the action taken against him by the secular powers, not without the blessing of the Dutch.

The Javanese text being published here is not appearing in print for the first time: more than half Cli century ago it was published by B. J. O. Schrieke in his doctQr's thesis Ret Boek van Bonang ("The Book of Bonang") (1916). In Schrieke's work, however, the emphasis fell O'n the historical introductiQn to the text rather than on the text itself, the edition of which is nQt free of shortcomings. MoreQver, the analysis of the contents of the text appended to it could not make up Qf a complete translation. for the lack That a new edition and complete translation of this Qld and important text has nQt been made before now is due to the small number of scholars of Javanese - and the even smaller number of those amQng them who concern themselves with the Muslim works of Javanese literature. In short, it is the piQneering character which the study of Indonesian literatures still largely PQssesses that has caused people to be contented with preliminary surveys Qf this extensive field of study j it is true that a number of welcQme milestones have been erected, but it can in no way be said that the cha:rting Qf the whole field is yet complete.After the first publication of a text and summary of its contents people are only too readily inclined to proceed to other projects, mOore attractive because of their novelty.