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| Sanghyang Siksa Kandang Karesian | |
|---|---|
| Name | Sanghyang Siksa Kandang Karesian |
| Language | Old Sundanese |
| Period | 16th–17th century (estimated) |
| Genre | Didactic poem |
| Form | Pupuh, Kawih |
| Region | West Java, Banten |
| Script | Old Sundanese script, Pegon (in some copies) |
Sanghyang Siksa Kandang Karesian
Sanghyang Siksa Kandang Karesian is an Old Sundanese didactic text associated with moral instruction, ritual practice, and social norms in premodern West Java, linked to courts, religious institutions, and village rites. The work is transmitted in manuscripts and palm-leaf copies connected to regional centers, and it intersects with literary, religious, and historical traditions studied by scholars across Southeast Asian studies, philology, and anthropology.
The text is situated within the cultural milieu of Sunda Kingdom, Banten Sultanate, Pajajaran, Tarumanagara, Mataram Sultanate, Majapahit, Demak Sultanate, Aceh Sultanate and other polities that influenced Java and Sumatra, as evidenced by linguistic strata and ritual parallels. Its composition and circulation reflect interactions among elites of Cirebon, Bogor, Bandung, Sukabumi, Garut, Tangerang, Serang, Lebak, Pamijahan and coastal entrepôts connected to Malacca, Melaka Sultanate, Portuguese Malacca, Dutch East India Company, and later Dutch East Indies. Manuscript dates have been compared to inscriptions like those of Nangga, Batutulis Inscription, Cangkuang, and to chronicles such as Babad Tanah Jawi and Babad Pajajaran, linking the text to broader Javanese and Sundanese historiography associated with figures like Prabu Siliwangi and events including the fall of Majapahit and rise of the Mataram Sultanate.
The poem employs Old Sundanese lexicon with borrowings from Old Javanese, Sanskrit, Arabic, and later Malay, reflecting contact with traditions preserved in manuscripts examined by specialists from institutions like Royal Asiatic Society, Leiden University, University of Oxford, University of Leiden, Institut Teknologi Bandung, Universitas Indonesia, Gadjah Mada University, and museums such as National Museum of Indonesia. Its meter, pupuh forms, and kawih performance practices align it with genres studied alongside works like Kakawin Bharatayuddha, Kakawin Sutasoma, Arjuna Wiwaha, Kunjarakarna, Suluk, and regional compositions catalogued by scholars in projects linked to Bibliotheca Indonesica and archives in London, Leiden, Paris, Berlin, and Jakarta. Philologists compare orthography across Old Sundanese script exemplars and Pegon renditions, citing parallels in prosody with Pupuh Asmarandana and narrative strategies akin to Panji tales and Wayang narratives related to Mahabharata and Ramayana adaptations.
The text synthesizes ethical precepts drawn from Hinduism, Buddhism, and Islamic teachings as practiced in West Java, with invocations and terminologies reminiscent of Sharia-influenced manuals, Sufi devotional literature, and Hindu-Buddhist ritual prescriptions found in Mantra collections, Tantric fragments, and Kawaca traditions. It addresses virtues, cosmology, and social duties in ways comparable to moral treatises associated with figures like Sunan Gunung Jati, Sunang Jagat, Sunan Kalijaga, and juridical syllabi similar to compendia produced under the aegis of courts in Cirebon and Banten, intersecting with pilgrimage practices to sites such as Gunung Padang, Pura Parahyangan, and local shrines venerated by communities connected to Kasepuhan Cirebon.
Manuscripts exist in repositories including Perpustakaan Nasional Republik Indonesia, British Library, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Rijksmuseum, and private collections associated with families in Sunda, catalogued during surveys by scholars from KITLV, SOAS University of London, Humboldt University of Berlin, and regional archivists in Bandung and Bogor Botanical Gardens archives. Transmission involves palm-leaf, lontar, and paper copies, sometimes annotated in Pegon script by religious scholars, with colophons referencing patrons from courts and pesantren linked to networks including Nahdlatul Ulama and Muhammadiyah in later marginalia. Codicological features mirror those in other Southeast Asian manuscripts like Serat Centhini, Hikayat Hang Tuah, Hikayat Raja-raja Pasai, and Bustan al-Salatin.
The text functions as a didactic manual within village and courtly contexts, informing rites of passage, agricultural seasons, and household norms among communities in West Java, Banten, and diaspora settlements in Lampung, Jakarta, Surabaya, and Medan. It has influenced oral traditions, performance arts, and communal rituals connected to Wayang Golek, Kecapi Suling, Jaipongan, and local forms of Tari Topeng as well as ethical instruction in pesantren curricula and adat councils like those presided over in Kasepuhan. Its prescriptions intersect with customary law practices found in regional adjudication alongside texts referenced by bureaucrats in colonial-era courts of the Dutch East India Company and later administrations in the Dutch East Indies.
Research spans philology, anthropology, and religious studies by scholars at Universitas Padjadjaran, Leiden University, University of London, Yale University, Harvard University, Cornell University, Australian National University, and independent researchers publishing in journals affiliated with ASEAS, Indonesia and the Malay World, Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde, and conference proceedings hosted by institutions including KITLV and SOAS. Debates focus on dating, authorship, syncretism, and the text’s role in identity formation vis-à-vis narratives like Babad Tanah Jawi and court chronicles, and comparisons with didactic corpora such as Tantu Pagelaran and Sanghyang Kakaungkilip have been advanced in monographs and dissertations archived at Leiden University Library and Perpustakaan Nasional. Contemporary editors and translators working with funding from foundations like Ford Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation, Ford Foundation Indonesia, and academic grants have produced critical editions, paleographic studies, and ethnographic analyses that situate the work within broader Southeast Asian intellectual history.
Category:Old Sundanese literature Category:Sundanese culture Category:Manuscripts of Indonesia