Restoring the reputation of the Javanese tradition of the Uttarakāṇḍa: ‘If you ignore one of the traditions, you ignore information about the tradition’
For almost a millennium, it was rewritten time and again: the Old Javanese literary prose work Uttarakāṇḍa. The tradition soon split into two major branches: a Javanese and a Balinese one. However, until now, scholarly editions have focused solely on the Balinese version. Unjustly so, argues PhD candidate Yosephin Apriastuti Rahayu.
The Uttarakāṇḍa is the seventh and final book of Vālmīki’s Hindu epic Rāmāyaṇa, which describes the life of Rāma after his coronation. The work was first paraphrased into Old Javanese at the end of the tenth century. ‘It was copied in an ancient script, called the Buda script, which was mainly used in the mountains,’ explains Apriastuti Rahayu. ‘Nowadays, very few people can read it.’
That is one of the reasons why the Javanese tradition has received little attention to date, although there are also substantive objections. ‘The Javanese scribe is thought to have understood Old Javanese less well than the Balinese, which is why the Balinese tradition is held in higher regard and scholars usually base their work on it,’ explains Apriastuti Rahayu.
Broad interpretation
She argues that this means those researchers are missing a few things. ‘Sometimes there are minor differences, such as a character having a different name in the Javanese version than in the Balinese, or a translation altering the interpretation of the text, but sometimes the entire focus shifts. For instance, the Javanese version emphasises the defeated giant family of Lanka, whilst the Balinese version focuses on Rama defeating his enemy.’
With her thesis, Apriastuti Rahayu is therefore contributing to a broader interpretation of the text. ‘Particularly as a philologist, it is important to map out the history of the text. If you ignore one of the traditions, you ignore information about the transmission of the text. It is precisely by tracking the scribes, recording their accuracy and precision, that it becomes clear how their own creativity sometimes takes precedence over fidelity to the original, and alters the tradition.’