Kawi language
Encyclopedia
Kawi is a literary and prose language on the islands of Java, Bali
, and Lombok
, based on Old Javanese
, a language with a sizable vocabulary of Sanskrit
loanword
s. Kawi is the ancestor language of modern Javanese. The name "kawi" is derived from the root ku, which in Sanskrit means “poet”, and, in derived forms, a “wise, educated man”. The syllabic meter of Kawi poetry is sekar kawi, which means “flowers of the language”, sekar itself deriving from the Sanskrit "sekhara" (“garland”). All Javanese languages are hierarchical and stratified, with strict social conventions for appropriate language subsets to be used for one's superiors or social and cultural functions. Kawi is commonly considered the pinnacle language.
for writing commonly called hanacaraka
; the more correct term is "Dentawiyanjana". It is a syllabic alphabet consisting of 20 letters and ten numbers and a number of vowel and consonant modifiers. The script of the island of Bali, heavily influenced by neighboring Java
, has a unique sub-form called Tulisan Bali
. Prince Aji Caka (an Indian migrant) is credited with establishing the first known kingdom of Java, called Java Dvipa (Swarna Dvipa) and also introducing the Kawi language was and the twenty letters of the syllabic hanacaraka script.
The Javanese also credit the language to Aji Saka
, a legendary hero of Medang Kamulan Kingdom. The earliest known inscription of Kawi is found at Candhi Gunung Wukir, in Magelang
, East Java
, Indonesia
.
and wayang kulit, in addition to high activities such as a Javanese wedding
, especially for the stylised meeting ritual of bride's parents with groom's parents in the ceremonies of Peningsetan and Panggih. Archaically or for certain nobles very strongly attached to tradition, it is used for the Midodareni, Siraman and Sungkeman ceremonies of the Javanese wedding.
The island of Lombok
has adopted Kawi as its regional language, reflecting the very strong influence of neighbouring East Java
. Today it is taught in primary school education as part of the compulsory secondary language unit os National curriculum. Traditionally, Kawi is written on lontar prepared palm leaves.
Kawi remains in occasional use as an archaic prose and literary language, in a similar fashion to Shakespeare-era English
, which has such aesthetically and arguably more cultivated words as thy, thee, hast
and so forth.
A more modern work is the poem "Susila Budhi Dharma", by Muhammad Subuh Sumohadiwidjojo
, the founder of Subud
. In this work, he provides a framework for understanding the experience of the latihan
kejiwaan.
Famous poems, epics and other literature include:
, who considered it the father of all Malay-Polynesian languages. Furthermore, he deprecated misconceptions about Aki being wholly influenced by Sanskrit, finding that Kawi did not use verb
inflexion, thus differing from Sanskrit's highly developed inflectional system. In Kawi language, the meaning of a sentence must be grasped through word order and context. Humboldt further noted that Kawi utilizes tense
distinctions, with past, present, and future, and differentiated moods via the imperative
and subjunctive
.
Numerous scholars including the Dutch expatriate Indonesian Prof. Dr. Petrus Josephus Zoetmulder S.J., who contributed an enormous quantity of original texts and serious scholarly study to the language, and his pupil and associate, Father Dr. Ignatius Kuntara Wiryamartana. Other eminent Indonesian scholars include Poedjawijatna, Sumarti Suprayitna, Poerbatjaraka and Tardjan Hadiwidjaja.
Bali
Bali is an Indonesian island located in the westernmost end of the Lesser Sunda Islands, lying between Java to the west and Lombok to the east...
, and Lombok
Lombok
Lombok is an island in West Nusa Tenggara province, Indonesia. It forms part of the chain of the Lesser Sunda Islands, with the Lombok Strait separating it from Bali to the west and the Alas Strait between it and Sumbawa to the east...
, based on Old Javanese
Old Javanese language
Old Javanese is the oldest phase of the Javanese language that was spoken in areas in what is now the eastern part of Central Java and the whole of East Java....
, a language with a sizable vocabulary of Sanskrit
Sanskrit
Sanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...
loanword
Loanword
A loanword is a word borrowed from a donor language and incorporated into a recipient language. By contrast, a calque or loan translation is a related concept where the meaning or idiom is borrowed rather than the lexical item itself. The word loanword is itself a calque of the German Lehnwort,...
s. Kawi is the ancestor language of modern Javanese. The name "kawi" is derived from the root ku, which in Sanskrit means “poet”, and, in derived forms, a “wise, educated man”. The syllabic meter of Kawi poetry is sekar kawi, which means “flowers of the language”, sekar itself deriving from the Sanskrit "sekhara" (“garland”). All Javanese languages are hierarchical and stratified, with strict social conventions for appropriate language subsets to be used for one's superiors or social and cultural functions. Kawi is commonly considered the pinnacle language.
Writing system
Kawi uses a unique scriptWriting system
A writing system is a symbolic system used to represent elements or statements expressible in language.-General properties:Writing systems are distinguished from other possible symbolic communication systems in that the reader must usually understand something of the associated spoken language to...
for writing commonly called hanacaraka
Javanese script
The Javanese alphabet, natively known as Hanacaraka or Carakan , known by the Sundanese people as Cacarakan is the pre-colonial script used to write the Javanese language....
; the more correct term is "Dentawiyanjana". It is a syllabic alphabet consisting of 20 letters and ten numbers and a number of vowel and consonant modifiers. The script of the island of Bali, heavily influenced by neighboring Java
Java
Java is an island of Indonesia. With a population of 135 million , it is the world's most populous island, and one of the most densely populated regions in the world. It is home to 60% of Indonesia's population. The Indonesian capital city, Jakarta, is in west Java...
, has a unique sub-form called Tulisan Bali
Balinese script
The Balinese alphabet is an abugida that was used to write the Balinese language, an Austronesian language spoken by about three million people on the Indonesian island of Bali. The use of the Balinese script has mostly been replaced by the Roman alphabet. Although it is learned in school, few...
. Prince Aji Caka (an Indian migrant) is credited with establishing the first known kingdom of Java, called Java Dvipa (Swarna Dvipa) and also introducing the Kawi language was and the twenty letters of the syllabic hanacaraka script.
The Javanese also credit the language to Aji Saka
Aji Saka
Aji Saka is an Indonesian footballer, currently plays for Arema Indonesia in the Indonesia Super League as a goal keeper.- External :...
, a legendary hero of Medang Kamulan Kingdom. The earliest known inscription of Kawi is found at Candhi Gunung Wukir, in Magelang
Magelang
Magelang is one of the largest cities of the 1,130 km² Magelang Regency, Central Java, Indonesia. It is also the largest town in the Kedu Plain between Mount Merbabu and Mount Sumbing in Central Java, Indonesia...
, East Java
East Java
East Java is a province of Indonesia. It is located on the eastern part of the island of Java and includes neighboring Madura and islands to its east and to its north East Java is a province of Indonesia. It is located on the eastern part of the island of Java and includes neighboring Madura and...
, Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
.
Usage
Kawi is not truly extinct as a spoken language. It is commonly used in wayanga golek, wayang wongWayang wong
Wayang wong also known as Wayang orang is a type of classical Javanese dance theatrical performance with themes taken from episodes of Ramayana or Mahabharata...
and wayang kulit, in addition to high activities such as a Javanese wedding
Wedding
A wedding is the ceremony in which two people are united in marriage or a similar institution. Wedding traditions and customs vary greatly between cultures, ethnic groups, religions, countries, and social classes...
, especially for the stylised meeting ritual of bride's parents with groom's parents in the ceremonies of Peningsetan and Panggih. Archaically or for certain nobles very strongly attached to tradition, it is used for the Midodareni, Siraman and Sungkeman ceremonies of the Javanese wedding.
The island of Lombok
Lombok
Lombok is an island in West Nusa Tenggara province, Indonesia. It forms part of the chain of the Lesser Sunda Islands, with the Lombok Strait separating it from Bali to the west and the Alas Strait between it and Sumbawa to the east...
has adopted Kawi as its regional language, reflecting the very strong influence of neighbouring East Java
East Java
East Java is a province of Indonesia. It is located on the eastern part of the island of Java and includes neighboring Madura and islands to its east and to its north East Java is a province of Indonesia. It is located on the eastern part of the island of Java and includes neighboring Madura and...
. Today it is taught in primary school education as part of the compulsory secondary language unit os National curriculum. Traditionally, Kawi is written on lontar prepared palm leaves.
Kawi remains in occasional use as an archaic prose and literary language, in a similar fashion to Shakespeare-era English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
, which has such aesthetically and arguably more cultivated words as thy, thee, hast
HAST
The abbreviation HAST may mean:*Hawaii-Aleutian Standard Time*Highly accelerated stress testing*Highly Available STorage...
and so forth.
Literature
There are many important literary works written in Kawi, most notably Empu Tantular's epic poem, "Kakawin Sutasoma" (E.M. Uhlenbeck, 1964: "A Critical Survey of Studies on the Languages of Java and Madura", The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff), from which is taken the National motto of Indonesia: "Bhinneka Tunggal Ika". Although often glibly translated as "Unity in Diversity", it is more correctly rendered as "[although] scattered, remaining [as] one"— referring to the scattered islands of the archipelago nation, not as an expression of multicultural solidarity as may be perceived in modern times.A more modern work is the poem "Susila Budhi Dharma", by Muhammad Subuh Sumohadiwidjojo
Muhammad Subuh Sumohadiwidjojo
Muhammad Subuh Sumohadiwidjojo . As a young man Muhammad Subuh claimed to have received a series of intense experiences that he believed gave him contact with a spiritual energy from a higher power...
, the founder of Subud
Subud
Subud is an international spiritual movement that began in Indonesia in the 1920s as a movement founded by Muhammad Subuh Sumohadiwidjojo. The basis of Subud is a spiritual exercise commonly referred to as the latihan kejiwaan, which was said by Muhammad Subuh to represent guidance from...
. In this work, he provides a framework for understanding the experience of the latihan
Latihan
Latihan is a form of spiritual or psychological practice. It is the principal practice of the Subud organization. Outwardly the exercise often manifests as physical movement and vocal activity that vary greatly both over time and between individuals...
kejiwaan.
Famous poems, epics and other literature include:
- Kakawin Tertua Jawa, 856
- Kakawin Ramayana ~ 870
- Kakawin Arjunawiwaha, mpuMPU-Science, medicine, and technology:* least publishable unit, or minimum publishable unit, the smallest piece of a scientist's results that can be made into an academic paper* medical grade polyurethane, an artificial rubber like substance used in medicine...
KanwaKanwaKanva was an ancient Hindu rishi, to whom some of the hymns of the Rig Veda are ascribed. He was called a son of Ghora and one of the Angirasas...
, ~ 1030 - Kakawin Kresnayana
- Kakawin Sumanasantaka
- Kakawin Smaradhana
- Kakawin Bhomakawya
- Kakawin BharatayuddhaKakawin BharatayuddhaKakawin Bhāratayuddha is an Old Javanese poetical rendering of some books of the Mahabharata by Mpu Sedah and his brother Mpu Panuluh in Indian meters . The commencement of this work was exactly November 6, 1157. The year of the composition is given in a chronogram sanga-kuda-śuddha-candramā which...
, mpuMPU-Science, medicine, and technology:* least publishable unit, or minimum publishable unit, the smallest piece of a scientist's results that can be made into an academic paper* medical grade polyurethane, an artificial rubber like substance used in medicine...
Sedah dan mpu Panuluh, 1157 - Kakawin HariwangsaKakawin HariwangsaKakawin Hariwangsa is an Old Javanese poem in Indian metres which tells the story of Krishna, as an Avatar of Vishnu, when he wished to marry the Goddess Rukminī, from the land of Kundina, and daughter of Lord Bhishmaka...
- Kakawin Gatotkacasraya
- Kakawin Wrettasañcaya
- Kakawin Wrettayana
- Kakawin Brahmandapurana
- Kakawin Kunjarakarna, mpu "Dusun"
- Kakawin Nagarakretagama, mpu Prapanca, 1365
- Kakawin Arjunawijaya, mpu Tantular
- Kakawin SutasomaKakawin SutasomaKakawin Sutasoma is an Old Javanese poem in poetic metres . It is the source of the motto of Indonesia, Bhinneka Tunggal Ika, which is usually translated as Unity in Diversity, although literally it means ' in pieces, yet One'...
, mpu Tantular - Kakawin Siwaratrikalpa, Kakawin Lubdhaka
- Kakawin Parthayajna
- Kakawin Nitisastra
- Kakawin Nirarthaprakreta
- Kakawin Dharmasunya
- Kakawin Harisraya
- Kakawin Banawa Sekar Tanakung
Prominent authors
The following are notable authors of Kawi:- Candakarana
- Sang Hyang Kamahayanikan
- Brahmandapurana
- Agastyaparwa
- Uttarakanda
- Adiparwa
- Sabhaparwa
- Wirataparwa, 996
- Udyogaparwa
- Bhismaparwa
- Asramawasanaparwa
- Mosalaparwa
- Prasthanikaparwa
- Swargarohanaparwa
- Kunjarakarna
Scholars
The first scholar to address Kawi in a serious academic manner was HumboldtWilhelm von Humboldt
Friedrich Wilhelm Christian Karl Ferdinand Freiherr von Humboldt was a German philosopher, government functionary, diplomat, and founder of Humboldt Universität. He is especially remembered as a linguist who made important contributions to the philosophy of language and to the theory and practice...
, who considered it the father of all Malay-Polynesian languages. Furthermore, he deprecated misconceptions about Aki being wholly influenced by Sanskrit, finding that Kawi did not use verb
Verb
A verb, from the Latin verbum meaning word, is a word that in syntax conveys an action , or a state of being . In the usual description of English, the basic form, with or without the particle to, is the infinitive...
inflexion, thus differing from Sanskrit's highly developed inflectional system. In Kawi language, the meaning of a sentence must be grasped through word order and context. Humboldt further noted that Kawi utilizes tense
Grammatical tense
A tense is a grammatical category that locates a situation in time, to indicate when the situation takes place.Bernard Comrie, Aspect, 1976:6:...
distinctions, with past, present, and future, and differentiated moods via the imperative
Imperative mood
The imperative mood expresses commands or requests as a grammatical mood. These commands or requests urge the audience to act a certain way. It also may signal a prohibition, permission, or any other kind of exhortation.- Morphology :...
and subjunctive
Subjunctive mood
In grammar, the subjunctive mood is a verb mood typically used in subordinate clauses to express various states of irreality such as wish, emotion, possibility, judgment, opinion, necessity, or action that has not yet occurred....
.
Numerous scholars including the Dutch expatriate Indonesian Prof. Dr. Petrus Josephus Zoetmulder S.J., who contributed an enormous quantity of original texts and serious scholarly study to the language, and his pupil and associate, Father Dr. Ignatius Kuntara Wiryamartana. Other eminent Indonesian scholars include Poedjawijatna, Sumarti Suprayitna, Poerbatjaraka and Tardjan Hadiwidjaja.
See also
- Bhinneka Tunggal IkaBhinneka Tunggal IkaBhinneka Tunggal Ika is the official national motto of Indonesia. The phrase is Old Javanese translated as "Unity in Diversity,". It is inscribed in the Indonesian national symbol, Garuda Pancasila , and is mentioned specifically in article 36A of the Constitution of Indonesia.It is a quotation...
for an example of this language - Old Javanese languageOld Javanese languageOld Javanese is the oldest phase of the Javanese language that was spoken in areas in what is now the eastern part of Central Java and the whole of East Java....
- Johan Hendrik Caspar KernJohan Hendrik Caspar KernJohan Hendrik Caspar Kern was a Dutch linguist and Orientalist. In the literature, he is usually referred to as H...
- Old MalayOld MalayThe Old Malay language, also called Classical Malay, is the ancestor of the modern Malay language, including Indonesian and Malaysian. It developed in the now Melayu Kingdom of Sumatra. It was heavily influenced by Sanskrit and Kawi , and was grammatically quite similar to modern Malay.-Old...
- Laguna Copperplate InscriptionLaguna Copperplate InscriptionThe Laguna Copperplate Inscription is the earliest known written document found in the Philippines. The plate was found in 1989 by a sand laborer working on Lumbang River near the outlet to Laguna de Bay, in Barangay Wawa, Lumban, in the Laguna province.The inscription on the plate was first...
– A 10th century document from the Philippines written in Kawi.
External links
- About lontar (palmleaves manuscripts).
- http://www.christusrex.org/www1/pater/JPN-javanese-huruf.html
- http://www.joglosemar.co.id/hanacaraka/hanacaraka.html