Ngadoman

Editors: Marine Schoettel, Arlo Griffiths.

Identifier: DHARMA_INSIDENKNgadoman.

Hand description:

Tidy monumental script, with characters deeply engraved. However, some vowel marks (hulu, taling tarung for vocalization o) are not as deeply engraved as others and are only faintly visible. For particularities of this script type, among which a quadrangular hulu opened on the right, see de Casparis 1975, pp. 53–54, 65. This author believes that this inscription’s script can be considered a continuation of Majapahit’s chancery script, “reduced to its essentials” . Willem van der Molen rather argues that this inscription belongs to a writing tradition distinct from that of Majapahit, as well as from more ancient East-Javanese scripts. He makes the interesting point that this script has more in common with that used in inscriptions of the Central Javanese period, showing that a number of akṣaras do not display innovations that occurred through the East-Javanese period (1983, pp. 96–98.)

In this inscription, note the two different shapes of pasangan y. It also seems that the boundary between words is emphasized by insertion of a slightly larger space.

de manifester des formes plus récentes de l’ancienne écriture javanaise, qui ne peuvent être reliées à ce qui aboutit finalement à la nouvelle écriture javanaise.

Language: Old Javanese.

Repository: Nusantara Epigraphy (tfc-nusantara-epigraphy).

Version: (97a2442), last modified (f510d28).

Edition

⟨1⟩ Om̐ sri sarasoti kr̥ta, vukir ha¡d!⟨rd⟩i damaluṁ Uri⟨2⟩piṁ buhana hañakra murusa patirtan paL̥maran· hapan yaṁ ⟨3⟩ vidi ha(m)ideni yaṁ raditya yaṁ vulan· hanəL̥ I hala-hayu⟨4⟩ni deva-manusa yaṁ hanut ya(ṁ) hagave bajaran tapak taṁt(u) ka¡b!⟨mb⟩aḥha ⟨5⟩ d(e)ni deva-manusa muva(ḥ) saṁ tu(mo)n saṁṅ amanah aR̥ṅə luputa ⟨6⟩ riṁ Ila-Ila paḍa kadəlana tutur-jati

yen ana ṅa¡b!⟨mb⟩aḥ ta⟨7⟩n pabəkəla patik vənaṁ tan pabaktaha histri pituṁ ha(ja)ma (t)an vava⟨8⟩don avastu, sri syat i sakavarsa <linga>

1371

Apparatus

⟨1⟩ Om̐ CS1 • The anunāsika is noted with a sign identical to the layar used elsewhere in this inscription. See Cohen Stuart 1872, p. 279. — ⟨1⟩ ha¡d!⟨rd⟩i damaluṁ ⬦ hadi damaluṁ CS1; hadi Umaluṁ CS2 C • Damaluṅ is one of the names anciently given to Mt. Merbabu and the term hardi, albeit part of the toponym, is to be distinguished from the proper noun. The colocations Ardi Damaluṅ or Hardi Pamrihan are commonly used to refer to this mountain in the colophons of Merapi-Merbabu manuscripts (as for instance in L 187, L 53, L 220, Mal-Pol 165). See Kuntara Wiryamartana 1993, p. 505. — ⟨1⟩ Uri⟨2⟩piṁ CS1 C ⬦ Ūripiṁ CS2 • Cohen Stuart already hesitated to read ūripiṁ in his first edition, and recorded the uncertain reading thus: “u(û?)riping”.

⟨2⟩ hañakra CS1 CS2 ⬦ Añakra C.

⟨3⟩ ha(m)ideni ⬦ ha(n)ideni CS1 CS2; hani deni C.

⟨4⟩ ka¡b!⟨mb⟩aḥha C ⬦ kabahha CS1 CS2.

⟨8⟩ sri syat i ⬦ sri syati CS1 CS2 C • Understand Skt. śrī syāt. The spelling, however, is that of Middle Javanese, where long and short vowels are no longer differentiated, just as dental and palatal sibilants. The present linguistic context probably explains the irregularity of finding t before the vowel i instead of d.

Translation by Marine Schoettel and Arlo Griffiths

Om. Made by Śrī Sarasvatī. The mountain Hardi Damaluṅ, the life of the Earth, was churning. The bathing place of Paləmaran would overflow, for God Vidhi (i.e. Brahmā?) gave instructions (amidhyani) to the Sun and the Moon to illuminate the bad and good of divine men, those who seek, those who make a line of succession. The established sacred site will be entered by divine men. And those (paḍa) who watch, who are intent, who listen, will be free from defilement, will be invested with memory of [former] births. Should anyone enter, he shall not come provided with live-stock, shall not bring wives pituṅ to have intercourse with, shall not be obsessed with sex [nor] owning possessions (avastu). May there be Fortune! In the Śaka year 1371.

Commentary

(6) The term tutur-jati is an Old Javanese (semi-)translation of the Sanskrit jātismara. It refers to the ability to recollect or remember one’s former births. Schopen 1982 has shown that this “old yogic attainment”, found in early Buddhist sūtras within lists of superknowledges acquired through meditational techniques, has been reconceptualized in later (“medieval”) Mahāyāna literature as a fruit of one’s religious merit and merit-making activities.

Bibliography

First edited by A.B. Cohen Stuart (1872) with extensive notes on vocabulary but without a translation, soon after re-edited by the same author (1875). This second edition was republished with minor modifications by de Casparis (1975). Re-edited here by Arlo Griffiths and Marine Schoettel from published photos as well as photographic documentation provided by the Museum voor Volkenkunde.

Primary

[CS1] Cohen Stuart, A. B. 1872. “Eroe Tjakra.” BKI 19, pp. 285–288. DOI: 10.1163/22134379-90000749. [URL]. Page 277.

[CS2] Cohen Stuart, A. B. 1875. Kawi oorkonden in facsimile, met inleiding en transcriptie. Leiden: Brill. [URL]. Page 36, item 27.

[C] de Casparis, Johannes Gijsbertus. 1975. Indonesian palaeography: A history of writing in Indonesia from the beginnings to c. A.D. 1500. Handbuch der Orientalistik 3.4.1. Leiden: Brill. Page 96.