MAHABHARATA AND
KAKAWIN BHARATAYUDDHA:
ANALYSIS OF
POLITICAL AND CULTURAL LINK
IN SOUTH AND
SOUTHEAST ASIA
Introduction
As
has been discussed with the relevance to this course, during the period of the 9th-14th
century was the phase of Hindu-Buddhist state formation in Java. In these
periods, the phenomenon of Indian culture was adopted beautifully into Javanese
local culture. Two great Indian epics, Ramayana and Mahabharata were both
“Javanized” into poetic form of old Javanese literatures. [1]One
of the Javanized works is Kakawin Bharatayuddha. Kakawin Bharatayuddha is an
ancient Javanese literature which was composed by two writers Sedah and Panuluh
in 1157, during the reign of king Varmesvara, also known as Jayabhaya
(1135-79) in Kadiri, Java. [2]
In the 11th century, Kadiri was actually one of the areas under the
realm of king Airlangga (r. 1010-42) of the Mataram Hinduism
kingdom. The kingdom was one of the biggest “nagara” states-agricultural
profits based, in Java before Majapahit. After a long and powerful reign, king
Airlangga divided his kingdom into two rival kingdoms Janggala and Panjalu
(Kadiri) for his two sons. [3]
Panjalu, was then well known as Kadiri. It had its golden period under the
reign of king Jayabhaya after defeating Panjalu kingdom in the royal battle.
Kakawin
Bharatuddha contained a story of a royal battle between Pandawa and Korawa
which was called as Bharatayuddha, or it was also called a war between the royal
families of Bharata.[4]
It is a story that is allegedly adapted from the Indian legend, Mahabharata. However,
this raises the question of whether or not the story was a pure imitation of the
Mahabharata? If it had not been an imitation were there smaller differences
between Mahabharata and Kakawin Bharatayuddha? If it had been an imitation, were
there certain similarities in these two stories? My argument is that Kakawin
Bharatyudda is an original literature work of the Javanese. I shall elaborate
my argument based on the differences of these two epics, and I shall analyze
the similarities of these two stories in order to see the phenomenon of the
interaction between South and Southeast Asia.
Similarities
between Mahabharata and Kakawin Bharatayuddha
Kakawin
Bharatayuddha (BYh) consists of three parts: mangala, ‘introductory
benediction’, the narrative and the epilogue. The narrative part of the poem is
based on the episodes of the war between the Pandawas and the Korawas as
depicted in Mahabharata (MBh). Another similarity is the idea and expression
between some of the stanzas that describe the battlefield in BYh and MBh:
MBh 9.8.29-30;
Roy’s translation, 1955:VIII, 24 (the scene after the death of Salya):
“A river appeared on the field of
battle, flowing towards on the other world. Blood formed its water, and carse
its eddies. Standards formed its trees, ad bones its pebbles. The arms (of
combatants) were its alligators, bows its current, elephants large rocks, and
steeds its smaller ones”[5].
BYh 44.8 (the scene when Salya’s
wife was looking for Salya’s dead body)
“Wearily she sat down to rest on
a dead elephant that looked like a rock sculpture on a flat stone; and there,
at the edge of the river blood, she dangled her feet into the water up to her
calves, deeply confused”.[6]
The
main characters of Mahabharata and Kakawin Bharatayuddha are also alike: in MBh
6.45.9-12, App. I, no. 4 : Kurava warriors who come to rescue Salya:
Brhadbalaś ca kausalyo jayatsenaś ca māgadhah Tathā
rukmaratho rājań śalyaputrah pratāvan Vindānuvindāvāvantyau kāmbojaś ca
sudakşiņah Brhatkştrasya dāyādah saindhavaś ca jayadrathah[7].
Translation: Bhradbala of Kosala,
Jayatsena of Magadha, Rukmaratha, the valiant son of Salya, Vinda and Anuvinda
of Avanti, Sudaksina of Kamboja, the kinsman of Brhatksatra and Jayadratha of
Sindhu.
In BYh 11.2, OJ Bhismaparwa
(76.13):
Kanyatan yatna
san watĕk Korawa, makādi sań Wrhadbala, Kośalya, Jayatsena, Māgadha, mwań anak
mahārāja Śalya, mańaran Rukmaratha, samańkana kweh sań rumĕbut sańső sań Śweta
Wirāţputra.[8]
Translation: the Korawa warriors who
came, Wrhadbala, Kosalya, Jayatsena, Magadha, Rukmaratha son on Salya, Sweta
Wiratputra.
Differences
between Mahabharata and Kakawin Bharatayuddha
The
writers put some clear distinctions in the story. First, the context of Kakawin
Bharatayudha is the battle between brothers. When the story was written, Kadiri
had just been in a royal battle with Janggala kingdom. The Kakawin
Bharatayuddha was a story that depicts this war. [9]
In Mahabharata, however, the context is not traceable since it is a legend
which was written hundreds years before.
Second,
the main objective of the composition of Kakawin Bharatayuddha was to give
praise to King Jayabhaya as a hero, a king and the incarnation of the God
Vishnu.[10]This
is written in the introductory:
“Thus the fame
of such a hero, renowned as a conqueror in battle, spread throughout three
worlds: all his vanquished enemies acknowledge him as Lord Protector. As his
fame spread, the whole world honored him with the name of His Majesty Lord Sri
Maharaja San Mapanji Jayabhaya Sri Warmeswara Madhusudanawatara, confirmed and
blessed by the nobles as well as by eminent Brahmins…”(BYh, canto
1.2)[11]
However, in
Mahabharata, there is no written information that tells the objective of the
story. Mahabharata illustrates the struggle of fighting cousins, pandavas and
kauravas, for the control of western Ganga-Yamuna Doab in the Vedic age.[12]
Third,
the place of the Bharata war that is written in Kakawin Bharatayuddha occurred
in padang kuru (it is believed to be located in Dieng plateau in Central Java).
There are eight temples that are named by the characters in Kakawin
Bharatayuddha in the place; they are Arjuna, Semar, Srikandi, Gathotkaca,
Puntadeva, Sembadra and Davaranti. On the other hands, in Mahabharata India, it
was written in the setting of South Asia (India) and the kingdom which involved
is Hastinapura on the Ganga about 57 miles to the north of Delhi and the
Pandavas had their Indraprastha on the Yamuna where New Delhi is now located in
around 800-400 BC.[13]
Finally,
in Mahabharata, the storyline covers before the Pandavas and Kuravas were born
continued to the Kurusetra war and, it was ended when Yuddhistira took the
throne in Hastinapura kingdom. In contrast, the story in Kakawin Bharatayuddha
only covers the padang kuru war episode (18 days of war between Kurava and
Pandava).
Conclusion
The
similar context of chronicles dynasty or rulers of the kingdom shows up in both
stories. King Jayabhaya used an Indian legend (which contains a story on heroes,
royal war, religion) from Vedic age namely, Mahabharata in order to legitimize
his power, position and religion to his audience, his people in his realm.
The
distinct features of the Kakawin Bharatayuddha are the forms of interactions
and syncretism with the local cultures. The distinctions in the storyline of
Kakawin Bharatayuddha and Mahabharata show the selection that was done by the
writers. The selection is the form of interaction between Indian culture and
the local culture in East Java. So, it is not merely an imitation from India to
East Java but it is a fruitful and active interaction that forms a new
literature work which is completely different from the original version.
Therefore, Kakawin Bharatuddha is an original literature work of the Javanese.
Rini
Rusyeni
Sources
Coedes, G., The
Indianized States of Southeast Asia, Honoulu:East-West Center Press,1968
Kulke, Herman, Dietmar
Rotlermurd, A History of India, 4th Edition, New York: Taylor
& Francis e-library, 2004
Reid, Anthony, A
History of Southeast Asia: Critical Crossroads, Oxford; Blackwell, 2015
Ricklefs, M.C., Bruce Lockhart,
et.al., A New History of South East Asia, New York: Palgrave Macmillan,
2010
Supomo, S, Bharatyuddha: An
Old Javanese Poem and Its Indian Sources, New Delhi: Pradeep Kumar Goel for
Aditya Prakashan, 1993
Sutiyono, Puspawarna Seni TradisiDalam Perubahan
Sosial Budaya, Yogyakarta: Kanwa Publisher, 2009
Wiryamartana, Kuntara, I.,
“Kakawin Bharatayuddha: Suatu Analisa Struktural”, Yogyakarta: Fakultas Sastra
dan Kebudayaan, Universitas Gadjah Mada, 2012
[1] Reid, Anthony, A
History of Southeast Asia: Critical Crossroads (Oxford:Blackwell, 2015),
pp. 43.
[2] Coedes, G., The Indianized States of Southeast Asia (Honoulu:East-West
Center Press. 1968), pp. 168.
[3] Ricklefs, Lockhart,
Lau, Reyes, Aung-Thwin, A New History of Southeast Asia, (New York:
Palgrave Macmillan, 2010), pp. 63.
[4] Wiryamartana, Kuntara, I., “Kakawin Bharatayuddha: Suatu Analisa
Struktural”, (Yogyakarta: Fakultas Sastra dan Kebudayaan, Universitas Gadjah
Mada. 2012), pp. 2.
[5] Supomo, S, Bharatyuddha: An Old Javanese Poem and Its Indian
Sources (New Delhi: Pradeep Kumar Goel for Aditya Prakashan, 1993),pp. 36-37.
[9] Sutiyono, Puspawarna
Seni TradisiDalam Perubahan Sosial Budaya, (Yogyakarta: Kanwa Publisher,
2009), pp. 9.
[10] Wiryamartana, Kuntara, I., “Kakawin Bharatayuddha: Suatu Analisa
Struktural”, (Yogyakarta: Fakultas Sastra dan Kebudayaan, Universitas Gadjah
Mada. 2012),pp. 2.
[11] Supomo, S, Bharatyuddha: An Old Javanese Poem and Its Indian
Sources (New Delhi: Pradeep Kumar Goel for Aditya Prakashan, 1993), pp. 7.
[12]Kulke, Herman, Dietmar Rotlermurd, A History of India, 4th
Edition, (New York: Taylor & Francis e-library, 2004) pp. 153.
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