S. Supomo – författare

Mpu Monaguṇa's early thirteenth century epic poem Sumanasāntaka is a vernacular rendering of Kālidāsa's story of Prince Aja and Princess Indumatī told in the Raghuvaṃśa. In it the poet exploits his source narrative to describe and comment on the Javanese world of his times.In Mpu Monaguṇa's Sumanasāntaka the authors offer an edited text and translation of Mpu Monaguṇa's epic kakawin and extensive commentary on the editing of the manuscripts and history of the poem and its story, the relationship between the Old Javanese poem and Kālidāsa's Raghuvaṃśa, the way in which the poem imagines the lived environment of ancient Java in the early thirteenth century and Balinese painted representations of the story of Prince Aja and Princess Indumatī.

Mpu Monaguna's early thirteenth century epic poem Sumanasantaka is a vernacular rendering of Kalidasa's story of Prince Aja and Princess Indumati told in the Raghuvamsa. In it the poet exploits his source narrative to describe and comment on the Javanese world of his times.In Mpu Monaguna's Sumanasantaka the authors offer an edited text and translation of Mpu Monaguna's epic kakawin and extensive commentary on the editing of the manuscripts and history of the poem and its story, the relationship between the Old Javanese poem and Kalidasa's Raghuvamsa, the way in which the poem imagines the lived environment of ancient Java in the early thirteenth century and Balinese painted representations of the story of Prince Aja and Princess Indumati.

The present translation of the kakawin Arjunawijaya appeared earlier as the author's Pd.D. thesis for the Australian National University in 1971. The poem under study only became better known to Western scholars in 1849, when R. Friederich described it. Although many scholars in the field have been familiar with the poem ever since, no separate study has been devoted to it. It is now published together with the translation and its explanatory notes. The punctuation marks which the author introduces in the body of the text are admittedly still tentative and experimental in nature. In the introduction to the text, the author discusses its dating and origins; and includes a comparison with the Old Javanese Uttar*a*kanda poem. Separate chapters are devoted to a description of contemporary life and ideas as reflected in this poem. According to the author, Tantular's poem is partly a reflection of the real world in which he lived, and is not to be seen merely as a tale, as Pigeaud has suggested in his Java in the 14th Century: a study in Cultural History (The Hague, 1960-1963).

Like many works of Old Javanese literature, the kakawin Arjunawijaya (Arj. ) was first introduced to the wor1d of Western scholarship in 1849 through the well-known report of Friederich, Voorloopig Verslag van het Eiland Baii. In this report Friederich (1959: 25) says: 'The Arjuna Vijaya ("the Triumph of Arjuna") is fonned after the Uttarak??l4a ...It contains the combat of Arjuna with R?vat]. a and his victory. R?vat]. a is here bound, but not yet killed, because his time has not yet arrived. Re is to be destroyed by R?ma ...' Written in 1849, when the study of Old Javanese had barely taken the first step in its slow progress on a long and arduous road, Friederich's report was a promising start. It is therefore disheartening to discover how, 120 years later, the Arj. is still little more than a closed book. To the best of my knowledge there is not one article exclusive1y devoted to any aspect of the poem, let alone a major publication. It would be an exaggeration, however, to say that the Arj. is completely unknown to students of Old Javanese.Short descriptions of the manuscripts of this kakawin, and even outlines of their contents, have been given in the Catalogues of the Old Javanese manuscripts in the possession of the Library of the University of Leiden, and in the few articles and books treating Old Javanese literature in general. Occasionally a reference to the Arj.