A Visit to Java Part 10

I went to one of the Sat.u.r.day evening concerts, and enjoyed it very much. The air was warm and calm, and it was very pleasant to sit under the wide-spreading waringin trees and gaze up at the twinkling brightness of the stars through the screen of leaves. There was quite a crowd of members and their friends promenading or sitting in easy groups round the little iron tables. The kiosks were brilliantly lighted, but through the branches of the waringin trees the soft radiance of the moon could be seen s.h.i.+ning upon the dull blue vault of the sky. The performance was given by the staff band, which never leaves Batavia, and is said to be the best in the East Indies. I give the programme:--

I.

1. FUR'S VATERLAND MARSCH _C. Millocker._

2. WIENER FRAUEN WALZER _J. Strauss._

3. OUVERTURE JELVA _F. Reisiger._

4. GRUSS AUS DER FERNE INTERMEZZO _J. Verhulst._

5. MARSCH UND CHOR A. D. OPER. DIE ZAUBERFLoTE _W. A. Mozart._

6. FANTAISIE LA REINE DE SABA _Ch. Gounod._

II.

7. OUVERTURE DIE FRAU MEISTERIN _Fr. v. Suppe._

8. DIE MUHLE IM SCHWARZWALD _R. Eilenberg._

9. FINALE A. D. OPER. ARIELE DIE TOCHTER DER LUFT _E. Bach._

On Sunday afternoon a military band plays in the centre of the Waterloo Plain, and all Batavia turns out in carriages or on horseback to listen--all Batavia, that is, with the exception of the very select few who keep to themselves almost entirely, or, if they attend a Concordia concert, never leave their carriages. This select few includes the highest officials and their families, personages such as the general and admiral, and the members of the East India Council. There is an interesting fact in connection with the admiral that recalls the time when the supremacy of the sea was the pride of the Dutch nation. The Governor-General, the general of the forces, and the admiral of the fleet all enjoy the t.i.tle of "Excellency," while they reside in Java; but, whereas the two former cease to be ent.i.tled to it when their term of command is over, the admiral is "his Excellency" to the end of his days.

As I mentioned before, the strictness of Batavian etiquette is likely to be modified by the introduction of a pastime so essentially English as lawn-tennis. The courts of the Bataviasche Lawn-tennis Club are in the Zoological Gardens, south of the King's Plain. The club holds numerous tournaments in the course of the year, and compet.i.tions are established for both a ladies' and gentlemen's champions.h.i.+p. The great majority of the men who play are English, but the ladies are, from the small number of English women in Batavia, almost exclusively Dutch. The holder of the champions.h.i.+p of Batavia, and the secretary of the club, in 1890, was an Englishman, Mr. R. L. Burt. In addition to this club, the old Batavia cricket club, which has an excellent ground on the King's Plain, has been practically converted into a men's lawn-tennis club. I was told that as many as six double courts were to be seen in full play on ladies' days at this club. So that it would appear that the Dutch ladies, at all events, have taken very kindly to lawn-tennis.

The style of living in Batavia is very similar to that of European society in India. The cheapness of labour and consequent number of servants give a certain air of luxury to even moderate establishments.

The Malay cooks are particularly skilful in the matter of curreys, and in a good house a "rice-table" is a thing to be remembered. The neatness and quickness of the natives generally make them very suitable for the duties of domestic and body servants. A Batavian dinner is served at a late hour in a lofty and s.p.a.cious apartment, which is one of a series of chambers through which the air freely circulates from the front to the back of the house. From this room the outside world is excluded only by partially drawn blinds, and through the open windows the perfumes of flowers or the sounds of music are borne in upon the guests. After dinner the party return to the portico in the front, which is almost as completely furnished as an inside room, and the rest of the evening is spent practically in the open air.

Beside the officials who are scattered over Java and the Dutch possessions in the East, the planters form an important element in the social life of the island. They are by no means exclusively Dutch, but the cla.s.s includes a considerable number of Englishmen. Such men are usually drawn from the higher cla.s.ses in Holland or in England, and are fairly wealthy and refined. Like the sheep farmers of Australia, they are exceedingly hospitable, and their bungalows are often convenient and even luxurious. Often, too, these latter are set in the midst of mountain scenery, and surrounded by charming gardens.

The planters are the representatives of the principle of free commerce, and the natural opponents of the official cla.s.s. Everywhere among them complaints are heard of the prejudice displayed against private enterprise, and of unnecessary obstacles placed in their way by the controleurs and a.s.sistant-residents. As I have already mentioned, a planters' union has lately been established for the purpose of protecting the planting interests. It meets at Soekaboemi, and it is hoped that, by means of concerted action, such grievances will be brought more effectively before the Government. After all, the planters are the real producers of the island, and their importance increases every year in proportion as the area of Government plantations is reduced. In many respects the planters are allied with the native princes. To a large extent the two cla.s.ses lead the same life and share the same pursuits. They are both brought into close connection with the natives, and they both find their chief recreation in various forms of sport.

Horse-racing in particular has of late years developed very considerably. The princ.i.p.al meetings are held at Buitenzorg and at Bandong, the former in June and September, the latter in July. At Bandong the native princes turn out in force, and the native population hold a carnival in the town. One of the greatest patrons of the turf is the Regent of Tjandjoer. At the time of my visit he was the owner of the premier horse in the island--Thistle, whose sire was Teviot of West Australia. The planters round Soekaboemi are also among the princ.i.p.al supporters of horse-racing in Java.

In Java, as elsewhere, they had a grievance. It was said that the owners of big studs of country-breds dominated the arrangements for events, and that the programmes were made up in favour of such native-bred horses to the exclusion of imported stock. Such a policy was regarded as unfavourable to the best interests of horse-racing in Java, since, instead of encouraging the importation of thoroughbreds from Australia and Europe, it tends to perpetuate the native race. The country-bred horse is undoubtedly a handsome-looking animal, but he exhibits a tendency to become weedy and razor-chested, and fails to carry a heavy weight from deficiency of bone. It is also found that the progeny of imported stock decline in quality both in size and stamina. This is the joint effect of climate and inferior food. Horses are trained merely on fresh gra.s.s and paddy (_i.e._ the ear and part of the stalk of the rice plant). Bandaging, I was told, was almost unknown; at the same time the animals were generally sound in feet and legs.

The average height of the country-bred horse is 14.3 to 15 hands; and good time over a mile is between 1 min. 52 sec. and 1 min. 55 sec., carrying at the rate of 75 lbs. (Dutch) for 4 feet, and one pound for every quarter of an inch in advance. In other words, a fifteen-hand horse carries about nine stone. There is no system of handicapping, but horses carry weight for inches; so that a horse may defeat a rival any number of times without effecting a change in the weights, and a known winner carries less weight than his defeated rival if the latter is an inch or two above him.

There are no recognized steeplechases, but generally one or two events at each meeting are reserved for gentlemen riders, and private matches are sometimes arranged. In 1888 the commandant at Buitenzorg offered a prize for a cross-country race for the purpose of encouraging riding among the officers. The event, however, was won by an English planter.

The Buitenzorg meetings are attended by all the best people in the island, and on the first day the Governor-General appears in state. The racing is fixed for the morning, and lasts from nine to twelve. It is a rather curious fact that in Java the starter has discarded the universal red flag, and waves a Dutch tricolour instead.

CHAPTER XIII.

THE HINDU JAVANESE LITERATURE.

The Hindu Javanese literature concerned with the past--Javanese alphabet--Extent of Javanese works-- Kavi dialect--Krama and Ngoko--The Mahabharata and the Ramayana in Kavi--Native Kavi works--The Arjuna Vivaya--The Bharata Yuddha--Episode of Salya and Satiavati--Ethical poems--The Paniti Sastra-- Localization of Hindu mythology in Java.

The literature of a country reflects its life, but under certain conditions. The literature of Java is mainly, but not entirely, concerned with the distant past, when the quiet tide of Eastern life had received as yet no disturbing impulse from the stream of Mohammedan and European conquest. This Hindu Javanese literature tells us of a people far advanced in the essentials of civilization, and reveals the existence of a social system which, though undoubtedly primitive, was at the same time complete and h.o.m.ogeneous. From the date of the Mohammedan conquest onwards, that is to say, for the last four centuries, the national life has been directed by alien forces. During this period but little or nothing has been added to the literature of the country, since the fresh ideas which have been introduced have come from Mohammedan conquerors, who were themselves provided with a sufficient medium of expression, and one which they sought, as a matter of policy, to impress upon the subject races of the island. Beyond enlightening us upon the social system prevalent many hundred years ago, it would seem that a knowledge of their literature could contribute but slightly towards a comprehension of the Javanese. This opinion, however, is modified by the fact that the Kavi literature has been popularized by translation into modern Javanese, and that the ma.s.s of the population are still acquainted with its main features by means of these versions accompanied by the representations of the theatre and the wayang. The ideals of conduct conveyed in these epics, romances, legends, and ethical treatises will, therefore, be those with which the Javanese are still familiar, and presumably such as still enlist their sympathies.

Besides this general insight into native methods of thought, there are also certain features of their life and of their present relations.h.i.+p to their European conquerors upon which interesting lights are thrown by an acquaintance with the traditions and beliefs enshrined in the ancient literature.

The Javan alphabet, according to the native idea, consists of only twenty consonants. But as a matter of fact, each of these consonants is credited with an inherent vowel sound of _a_ (often written _o_) as in _water_; and there are five vowel signs which are attached to the consonants, and so vary the inherent _a_. There are also twenty auxiliary consonant forms, corresponding to the original twenty consonants, which are used in all combinations of consonants. Even this does not exhaust the list, for there still remain a number of double letters, while modifications of the letters of the alphabet are employed for numbers. Speaking of this alphabet as a whole, Crawfurd says[21] that it reaches perfection, since "it expresses every sound in the language, and every sound invariably with the same character, which never expresses but one." He concludes, "In splendour or elegance the alphabet of the Arabs and Persians is probably superior to that of the Javanese; but the latter, it may be safely a.s.serted, surpa.s.ses in beauty and neatness all other written characters." Some idea of the extent of the Javanese literature may be gained from the fact that M. Vreede's recently issued account of the Javanese ma.n.u.scripts in the Leiden University Library[22] gives the names of some five hundred ma.n.u.scripts, containing no less than one hundred and fifty separate works. And--to come nearer home--the collection of the Royal Asiatic Society contains as many as forty-four Javanese ma.n.u.scripts, for which the society is mainly indebted to the generosity of Lady Raffles. No little interest and learning have been displayed by continental scholars in the study of these works; but, unfortunately, their valuable treatises, written in German, French, and Dutch, are not easily accessible to English readers.

In order to find an account of the Javanese literature in English, we have to go back more than half a century to the works of Raffles and Crawfurd. Fortunately, the former has enriched his "History" with unusually full and interesting extracts from Javanese works. But since Raffles was in Java immense advances have been made, not only in our general knowledge of oriental languages, but especially in the interpretation of literature by means of antiquarian remains. It is not that his account is rendered worthless by these recent researches. On the contrary, in this latest work, Vreede's "Catalogue," we find frequent quotations from Raffles' appendices. At the same time, when we see how much he achieved with his inadequate materials, it is difficult to suppress a feeling of regret that the fuller information, which is available to-day, was not at the disposal of the author of a "History of Java." As I have embodied in the text some extracts from Raffles'

translations, it may be well to say a word as to the value of these versions. What Vreede says of a particular pa.s.sage is true of these renderings in general: "They are not literal translations, but the spirit of the work is well rendered."

[Footnote 21: "Indian Archipelago."]

[Footnote 22: "Catalogus van de Javaansche en Madoereesche Handschriften der Leidsche Universiteits-Bibliotheek door A. C.

Vreede. Leiden: 1892."]

In the present chapter we are concerned only with those Hindu Javanese works which are properly ent.i.tled to be cla.s.sed as "literature." They are written in the Kavi or literary language. The term "Kavi" means the language of poetry, and this dialect is composed, to a great extent, of words of Sanscrit origin. Although the knowledge of Kavi was gradually lost after the Hindu supremacy was overthrown by the Mohammedans, modern Javanese contains but few Arabic words, especially differing in this respect from Malay. Two forms of modern Javanese are employed in everyday speech. First, the language of ceremony, called Krama; and, secondly, the common speech, or Ngoko (meaning literally the thou-ing speech). The Krama contains a considerable number of words derived from Sanscrit and introduced through the Kavi, and an admixture of Malay. It is used by the peasants and artisans in addressing the native princes.

The Ngoko is spoken by the common people among themselves, and by the native princes in communication with their inferiors. The existence of this double language explains the fact (of which I have already spoken) that the Dutch have established Malay, and not Javanese or Sundanese, as the medium of communication between Europeans and natives.

The modified Hinduism which existed at the epoch of the Mohammedan conquest (1400-1500, A.D.) retreated very gradually in an easterly direction before the new religion. At the end of the eighteenth century there were still Hindus in Java, and to-day the ancient religion lingers in Bali, a small island off the south-eastern coast. In Bali, therefore, it is natural that we should find the fullest remains of such parts of the Kavi literature as are most closely identified with that of Continental India. Only fragments of the two great Indian epics, the Mahabharata, or "Great War of the Sons of King Bharata," and the Ramayana, or "Adventures of Rama," are found in Java; but in Bali Kavi versions of both appear. Neither of these versions, however; bears the Indian t.i.tle of the original work. The Mahabharata, which, with its 220,000 lines, is the longest epic in the world, and which Sir Monier Williams calls "a vast cyclopaedia of Hindu mythology," is known as "the Parvas." Of the eighteen parvans, or divisions, of the original, eight only are in existence in the Kavi version. Of these the first, _Adiparva_, is the best preserved, says Dr. Van der Tuuk; "but this also," he adds, "abounds in blunders, and especially the proper names have been so altered from their Indian originals as to be hardly recognizable."[23] As the name "War of the Bharatas" is applicable, strictly speaking, to only one-fifth part of the whole poem, it is probable that the great epic was not yet known under this t.i.tle at the time when it was transported from India to Java.

[Footnote 23: In the _Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society_, xiii. N.S. 1881.]

The Ramayana appears in a slightly changed form in the Kavi version. The original Indian epic is divided into seven _Kandas_, or volumes, which are again subdivided into chapters. The Kavi version, ent.i.tled "the Kandas," contains the narrative of the first six Kandas. The seventh, the _Uttara-Kanda_, or supplementary volume, which gives an account of the descendants of Rama after his death, appears in the Kavi as an entirely separate work. It would appear, therefore, that neither of the two Indian epics had reached their final form when they were carried by Hindu colonists to Java. That part of the Mahabharata which afterwards gave the poem its distinctive t.i.tle had not yet been written, or at least added to the central myth; and the Ramayana then contained only the history of Rama. Both poems appear, however, to have acquired a reputation for unusual sanct.i.ty. In Java and Bali both "the Kandas" and "the Parvas" are used as synonymous terms, and mean "the Sacred Books."

The difference between the Kavi and Indian versions of these epics seems to afford additional evidence--if any such were needed--that neither the Mahabharata nor the Ramayana is the work of a single mind, but that both are a collection or compilation of myths.

It is noticeable also that, in spite of the love of dramatic representation manifested so universally among the Javanese, the Indian dramas were not transplanted to Java. Dr. Friederich[24] offers an explanation of this. "Most of the Indian dramas," he says, "are of late times, and perhaps, at the time the Brahmans came to Java, were exclusively found at the courts of the princes."

[Footnote 24: In the _Journal of R. A. S._ vii. N.S.]

We come now to the consideration of what may be called, by contradistinction to the direct versions of the Indian epics, the native Kavi works. The character of these poems--for all the Kavi literature is alike written in metre--is in the main mythological and romantic; but there are also to be found among them certain ethical and religious works. Although the subjects, the heroes, and even the metre in many cases, are still Indian, these subjects and heroes have been so completely identified with the local life that the poems are essentially Javanese.

Of the native Kavi works the "Arjuna Vivaya," which gives an account of the ascent of Arjuna to Indra, and of his love for the nymph Urvasi, deserves to stand first from the purity of the dialect in which it is composed. The Indian hero Arjuna, the son of Pandu, who is called by Sir Monier Williams, "the real hero of the Mahabharata," was adopted by the Javanese, and his name was given to one of their mountains. The metre of the poem is Indian in form, and not Javanese, and the date of its composition is fixed by Professor Kern in his "Kawistudien" as the first half of the eleventh century of our era. The fact that it contains but slight traces of Buddhistic thought is important as giving some hint of the date at which Buddhism was introduced in the island. In this respect it differs from the "Arjuna Vijaya," a later poem celebrating the triumph of the same hero over Ravan, the demon king of Ceylon.

The "Bharata Yuddha," or war of the Bharatas, is so closely connected with the sacred Parvas, that it is generally placed by the Javanese at the head of the native Kavi works. It is esteemed the greatest work in the Javanese literature, but it yields in point of antiquity to the "Arjuna Vivaya." Its language also is less pure, and contains a certain admixture of ordinary high Javanese or Krama. A definite date (1195, A.D.) is a.s.signed to it, and the name of its author is said to be Hempu, or M'pu, S'dah. The subject of the poem is identical with that of four of the parvans of the Mahabharata, but the scene is changed from India to Java. It contains an account of the struggle between the Pandavas, or five sons of Pandu, and the Kauravas, or hundred sons of Dhritavashtra, in which the latter are ultimately defeated in their attempt to obtain the kingdom of Ngastina. The scene is laid in the plains around the city Ngastina, or in the city itself. The poem opens with the following lines:--[25]

"In war 'tis the prayer of the brave to annihilate the foe; To see the braids of fallen chiefs scattered like flowers before the wind; To rend their garments, and burn alike their altars and their palaces; Boldly to strike off their heads while seated in their chariots, and thus to obtain renown."

The episode of King Salya, one of the Kaurava princes, and Satiavati, his queen, is singularly romantic, and reveals a high ideal of wifely devotion. The poem relates how Salya steals away from his wife, and sacrifices himself on the field of battle. Then Satiavati wanders over this same field of battle by night in quest of his corpse. A flash of lightning is sent to direct her steps, and when she has found the body of her husband, she addresses the corpse in a speech in which she declares her intention of following his spirit.

"But earth has lost its fleeting charms for me And, happy spirit, I will follow thee."

She continues--

"Though widadaris[26] should obey thy call Reserve for me a place above them all,"