Kawi language

language
name=Kawi
nativename=Bhāṣa Kawi, Old Javanese
states=Java, Bali, Madura, Lombok, Indonesia; Philippines
region=Malay Archipelago
extinct=literary language, archaic by 14th century
familycolor=Austronesian
fam2=Malayo-Polynesian
fam3=Western Malayo-Polynesian
fam4=Sundic
iso2=kaw|iso3=kaw

Kawi (from Sanskrit: "kavi", "poet") is a literary and prose language from the islands of Java, Bali, and Lombok, based on Old Javanese, language with a sizable vocabulary of Sanskrit loanwords. 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 derived from the Sanskrit "sekhara" (“garland”.) [http://www.schillerinstitute.org/fid_97-01/991_humboldt_kawi.html] All Javanese languages are hierarchical and stratified, with strict social conventions for appropriate language subset top use for one's superiors or social and cultural functions. Kawi is commonly considered the pinnacle language.

Kawi uses a unique script for writing commonly colloquially called hanacaraka, but the more correct term is "Dentawiyanjana" a syllabic alphabet consisting of 20 letters and ten numbers and a number of vowel and consonant modifiers. The script of 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 established 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. [http://www.apu.ac.jp/~gunarto/lang/mileston.html] 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.

Kawi is not truly extinct as a spoken language, it is commonly used in wayanga golek, wayang wong and wayang kulit, in addition to usage in high ceremony such as 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 stong 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 occasionally used as an archaic prose and literary language, in a similar fashion to Shakespeare-era English, which has such more aesthetically and arguably more cultivated pronouns among other words, such as thy, thee, hast and so forth.

The first scholar to address Kawi in a serious academic manner was Humboldt, who considered it the father of all Malay-Polynesian languages. Furthermore, he deconstructed misconceptions about Aki being wholly influenced by Sanskrit finding that Kawi did not use inflexion to the verb, diverging 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 investigated that Kawi utilizes tense distinctions, with past, present, and future, and the differentiates moods via the imperative and subjunctive. [http://www.schillerinstitute.org/fid_97-01/991_humboldt_kawi.html.]

There are many important literary works written in Kawi, most notably the National motto of Indonesia: "Bhinneka Tunggal Ika" derived from Empu Tantular's epic poem, "Kakawin Sutasoma" . 2 (E.M. Uhlenbeck, 1964: "A Critical Survey of Studies on the Languages of Java and Madura", The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff)Although often glibly translated as "Unity in Diversity", it is more correctly rendered as " [although] scattered, remaining [as] one- referring tot he 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, the founder of Subud. In this work, he provides a framework for understanding the experience of the latihan kejiwaan.

Prominent authors

The following are famous authors of Kawi and its' overlapping Jawa Kuno literature:

# Candakarana
# Sang Hyang Kamahayanikan
# Brahmandapurana
# Agastyaparwa
# Uttarakanda
# Adiparwa
# Sabhaparwa
# Wirataparwa, 996
# Udyogaparwa
# Bhismaparwa
# Asramawasanaparwa
# Mosalaparwa
# Prasthanikaparwa
# Swargarohanaparwa
# Kunjarakarna

Famous poems, epics and other literature include:
# Kakawin Tertua Jawa, 856
# Kakawin Ramayana ~ 870
# Kakawin Arjunawiwaha, mpu Kanwa, ~ 1030
# Kakawin Kresnayana
# Kakawin Sumanasantaka
# Kakawin Smaradahana
# Kakawin Bhomakawya
# Kakawin Bharatayuddha, mpu Sedah dan mpu Panuluh, 1157
# Kakawin Hariwangsa
# Kakawin Gatotkacasraya
# Kakawin Wrettasañcaya
# Kakawin Wrettayana
# Kakawin Brahmandapurana
# Kakawin Kunjarakarna, mpu "Dusun"
# Kakawin Nagarakretagama, mpu Prapanca, 1365
# Kakawin Arjunawijaya, mpu Tantular
# Kakawin Sutasoma, mpu Tantular
# Kakawin Siwaratrikalpa, Kakawin Lubdhaka
# Kakawin Parthayajna
# Kakawin Nitisastra
# Kakawin Nirarthaprakreta
# Kakawin Dharmasunya
# Kakawin Harisraya
# Kakawin Banawa Sekar Tanakung

Key scholars

Numerous scholars include the Dutch expatriate Indonesian Prof. Dr. Petrus Josephus Zoetmulde, who contributed an enormous quantity of original texts and serious scholarly study to the language, his pupil and associate Father Dr. Ignatius Kuntara Wiryamartana. Other highly eminent Indonesian scholars include Poedjawijatna, Sumarti Suprayitna, Poerbatjaraka and Tardjan Hadiwidjaja.

References

Bibliography

*De Casparis, J. G., "Indonesian Palaeography : A History of Writing in Indonesia from the beginnings to c. AD 1500", Leiden/Koln, 1975
* Florida, Nancy K., "Javanese Literature in Surakarta Manuscripts: Introduction and Manuscripts of the Karaton Surakarta", Cornell Univ Southeast Asia, 1993 ISBN 087727603X
*Wilhelm von Humboldt’s "Über die Kawi-Sprache (On the Kawi Language)": 1836
*Poerbatjaraka dan Tardjan Hadiwidjaja, 1952, Kepustakaan Djawa'. Djakarta/Amsterdam: Djambatan.
*Teselkin, "Old Javanese (Kawi)"
*E.M. Uhlenbeck, 1964, di dalam bukunya : "A Critical Survey of Studies on the Languages of Java and Madura", The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff
*Zurbuchen, "Introduction to Old Javanese Language and Literature: A Kawi Prose Anthology"
*P.J. Zoetmulder, S.O. Robson, Darusuprapta, 1995, "Kamus Jawa Kuna-Indonesia", Jakarta: Gramedia dan Instituut voor Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde (KITLV). Bekerja sama dengan S.O. Robson. Penerjemah: Darusuprapta dan Sumarti Suprayitna. ISBN 979-605-347-0
*1992-1993, Bahasa parwa : tatabahasa Jawa Kuna: Yogyakarta: Gadjah Mada University Press. Bekerja sama dengan I.J. Poedjawijatna. Cetakan ulang dari edisi tahun 1954

External links

* [http://www.bucalic.de/lontars/index.html About lontar (palmleaves manuscripts).]
*http://www.christusrex.org/www1/pater/JPN-javanese-huruf.html
*http://www.joglosemar.co.id/hanacaraka/hanacaraka.html
*http://www.schillerinstitute.org/fid_97-01/991_humboldt_kawi.html

ee also

*Bhinneka Tunggal Ika for an example of this language
*Old Javanese language
*Johan Hendrik Caspar Kern
*Old Malay