G. Drewes the Struggle Between Javanism and Islam As Illustrated by the Serat Dermagandul
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G. Drewes The struggle between Javanism and Islam as illustrated by the Serat Dermagandul In: Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde 122 (1966), no: 3, Leiden, 309-365 This PDF-file was downloaded from http://www.kitlv-journals.nl Downloaded from Brill.com09/30/2021 05:49:08AM via free access THE STRUGGLE BETWEEN JAVANISM AND ISLAM AS ILLUSTRATED BY THE SËRAT DERMAGANDUL \ JK I riting on the encyclopaedic character of the Sërat Ca- y y bolan and the Sërat Cëntini1 Dr Th. Pigeaud has classified the 'well-known Sërat Dërmagandul' as belonging to the same category of literary works, since in its elaborate redactions it showed a similar tendency towards expatiation on favourite subjects of Javanese lore. Moreover, in the struggle between the inherited religious concepts and Muslim orthodoxy it sided with those who clung to the time-honoured Javanese speculations on man and his place in the universe as against the legalist view of Islam, just as the Cëntini books did. Should, however, the epithet 'well-known' have prompted an in- quisitive reader to investigate the existing literature in search of further information on the Sërat Dërmagandul, then he would not have been long in finding that, for instance, neither in the Leiden catalogues of Javanese MSS. nor in the abstracts of Javanese printed books in the library of the (former) Batavia Society at Jakarta is a work of this name mentioned, let alone described.2 Nor was a Sërat Dërmagandul recorded by Dr Poerbatjaraka in his Alphabetical List of Javanese MSS. in the library of the (former) Batavia Society.3 Even if he continued his research by Consulting what was published after 1933, he would not find a summary of the work in question until 1939. In that year it was summarized by H, Overbeck in connection 1 In the introduction to his abstract of those books, published as vol. LXXII pt. 2 of the Verhandelingen van het Koninklijk Bataviaasch Genootschap, Bandung 1933, p. 5. 2 The Leiden catalogues of Javanese MSS. are by A. C. Vreede (1892) and H. H. Juynboll (1911). The abstracts of Javanese printed books have been published as: Pratélan kawontenaning boekoe-boekoe basa Djawi (tjitakan) by R. Poerwasoewignja and R. Wirawangsa, 2 vol., Batavia 1920-'21. 3 Jaarboek Kon. Bat. Genootschap 1933 pp. 269-376. Dl. 122 21 Downloaded from Brill.com09/30/2021 05:49:08AM via free access 310 G. W. J. DREWES. with a secret doctrine (the sastra jendra) attributed to Bima in the lakon Sena rodra,4 and was referred to by him as one of those remark- able writings which combat orthodox Islam and probably were widely known among the Javanese, at least in former times.5 The reader would find further mention of it by Dr Pigeaud in his Javaanse Volks- vertoningen (Batavia, 1938) § 310; by Ph. van Akkeren in his thesis on a work of a similar character, the Suluk Gatoloco (Utrecht, 1951, p. 8) and, recently, again by Dr Pigeaud in his Java in the fourteenth century, vol. IV, 1962, p. 127. Nevertheless, it was not without good reason that already in 1933 Dr Pigeaud described the Sërat Dërmagandul as a 'well-known' book. About that time in f act it had acquired a certain notoriety, for only a few years earlier this selfsame book had given rise to feelings of indignation and to — short-lived — agitation among the Chinese as well as the orthodox Muslim population of Central Java, especially of Yogyakarta. In particular these feelings of indignation had been roused by the last part of the book, which had appeared in the Javanese Almanac for the year 1925, published by the (European) printing firm of Buning at Yogyakarta. The preceding parts published by the same firm as a serial in previous almanacs (1922-1924) had, curiously enough, not provoked any reactions; neither had the first edition of the text in book form by the well-known publisher Tan Khoen Swie of Këdiri in 1921. Yet the reprint of this text in Buning's Almanacs contained nothing but a somewhat f ree adaptation of the Këdiri version of 1921. To be sure, in the Almanacs certain passages had been omitted and other passages added, but not to the extent that the spirit and the tenor of the book had been altered. As will be seen from the synopsis given in this paper the whole of the book breathes rejection of Islam as being a religion foreign to Java and the Javanese; moreover, a religion which had come to power as a result of the utterly reprehensible conduct of the walis, the venerated saints of ancient Javanese Islam who conspired against Majapait, and by the ignominious action taken by Raden Patah, the first king of Dëmak, against his father, the last Brawijaya of Majapait. The author has not a good word to say for the institutions and daily practices of Islam and scoffs at and derides the Holy Land 4 Vide: Serat Padalangan Ringgit Poerwa ed. Balai Poestaka, Serie no. 443 k; J. Kats, Het Javaansche Tooneel I, Wojang Poerwa, p. 296. 5 Djawa vol. XIX (1939) p. 16. Downloaded from Brill.com09/30/2021 05:49:08AM via free access THE STRUGGLE BETWEEN JAVANISM AND ISLAM. 311. of this religion and its inhabitants. He does not mince matters but declares outright that the conversion of the Javanese to the faith of the Arabs has changed them into half-hearted people. They will not recover strength of purpose until they have reinstated their ancestral religion (agama lurï) and returned to the cult of budi (reason; right thinking), which word, of course, alludes to agama buda, the ancient faith that was superseded by Islam. A considerable part of the book is taken up by the story of Sunan Bonan's misbehaviour in the Këdiri region. His high-handed pro- ceedings culminate at last in his return to Dëmak and his engineering a plot against Majapait. All that happened af ter this: the conquest of the capital of Majapait; Brawijaya's escape to Balambanan; the reli- gious disputes between Brawijaya and Sunan Kalijaga and between Brawijaya and his two servants, Sabdapalon and Nayagengon; the rebuke given to Raden Patah by the Old Lady of Nampel, all this occupies the second half of the book. In the last canto, contained in the almanac for 1925, the author again launches an attack upon the walis, comparing them in their hypocrisy to the white-feathered heron, a most disgusting animal in spite of its immaculate outward appearance. From the heron with its plume at the back of its head it is but a step to the Chinese, who in his time still wore their pigtails. Their activities are put in an un- favourable light: in his view their stinginess and greed are on a par with those of santris and hajjis. Furthermore the author attributes the harshness of Javanese jurisdiction in the period from Dëmak till Mataram, when human life was made light of (ton nango nowël umur), to the cruel Chinese penal code given to the king of Dëmak by his Chinese mother, the putëri Cina, who was divorced by the king of Majapait and given in marriage to Arya Damar of Palemban, a semi- demon. It is worth noticing that, although the Tan Khoen Swie edition of 1921 had been on the market for four years already, no protest was voiced at an earlier date from Javanese Muslim quarters. This is the more remarkable since Sunan Pakubuwana X of Surakarta (Sunan Wicaksana), in power during the twenties of this century, is reported to have fostered a great veneration for the saint of Bonan who is cast for the part of the villain in the Sërat Dërmagandul. One gets the impression that it was not until the Chinese had taken strong exception that the Javanese protested. It is not to be wondered at that the contents of Buning's Almanac Downloaded from Brill.com09/30/2021 05:49:08AM via free access 312 G. W. J. DREWES. were known in Chinese quarters. At that time in Central and Eastern Java there was no lack of persons of Chinese descent whose families had been living in Java for generations. All of these had been influ- enced, sometimes to a considerable extent, by their Javanese environ- ment and a number of them had embraced Islam. But even without being Muslims many of them had become conversant with the con- cepts and subjects familiar to their Javanese neighbours. They spoke and read Javanese, so that they were able to get acquainted with Javanese books dealing with these subjects. So no doubt the seriai in Buning's Almanac will have been read by a good few of them and those ignorant of Javanese will have been informed by the Chinese press of Java. At first the agitation was confined to the Chinese element of the population. But it spread and gathered momentum chiefly owing to the fact that a congress convened by Muhammadiyyah, a religious association with numerous local branches, was being held at Yogyakarta in mid-March 1925. In a short communication one of the local leading men of Muhammadiyyah drew the attention of the congress members to passages in Buning's Almanac which he called insulting to both Chinese and Javanese. He informed the congress of a meeting of protest organized by the Chinese, which was to be held the next evening, and urged all those present to attend this meeting, without, however, telling them exactly which passages were considered to be of an insulting character. Now the general feeling of the assembly was already one of irri- tation.