Summary
The sloka genre is introduced by legal texts associated with kingdom of Medhang Kamulan. In addition to the first ever sloka formulated by Aji Saka himself, the main source of early sloka comes from the Jugul Muda. According to Javanese tradition attributed to the sixteenth century, it constitutes the earliest title of the period concerned with law. Hence, the Jugul Muda and those texts belonging to that tradition provide the material for capturing the main features of the genre. On the more practical level, sloka provide the basis for resolving suits.
Both sloka and the means of communication, aksara, are common Javanese terms. Aksara as the twenty letters comprising the Javanese writing system can be traced back literally to the beginning of time. The ha-na-ca-raka alphabet composed of aksara is attributed to Aji Saka, who also invented the Javanese saka calendar. In order to relate the tragic story of his two loyal servants, Dora and Sembada, he breathed life into the abstract symbols, through which the aksara – here in the standard dictionary meaning of letters of the alphabet – were arranged into stanzas thereby creating the first sloka. The story is as follows.
On the way Java from India, Aji Saka and his retinue landed on the island of Majethi. Once there Sembada was asked to remain and guard the priceless heirloom, a kris. On no account should it be surrendered to anyone but Aji Saka in person. Aji Saka continued to the Javanese kingdom of Medhang Kamulan, at that time ruled by a man-eating demon named Dewata Cengker. The latter was bested through the ruse of an ever-lengthening turban wrapping, turned into a white crocodile, and ultimately exiled to the southern sea. Dora was then dispatched to Majethi in order to retrieve the kris, which was to become the palladium of the newly-won kingdom. True to his pledge, Sembada refused to surrender the kris to anyone other than Aji Saka. Dora stuck by the order to retrieve it. The two were equally steadfast in their commitment to carry out their master's wishes. They were equally matched in fighting prowess. Both perished. Unswerving loyalty was immortalised by Aji Saka through creating the twenty aksara to compose a sloka of four lines of five letters each to their memory.
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- Information
- Javanese Way of LawEarly Modern Sloka Phenomena, pp. 67 - 90Publisher: Amsterdam University PressPrint publication year: 2019