255

Banuwai)i: cod. 4288 (= 4289 = 10.633 = BCB prtf 77). 31.214 Përcuna, versified, Javanese-Madu- rese: cod. 4868 (= 10.683 = BCB prtf 167). 31.215 Darma Kusurna, versified, East Javanese origin: cod. 4894 (= 10.690 = BCB prtf 173). 31.216 j abel an Astina, versified, East Java nese origin: cod. 4932 (= 10.697 = BCB prtf 178). 31.217 Various versified plays, East Java nese origin: cod. 4938, REM 2244-1. 31.218 Pandawa Raré and Arjuna Wiwaha, in verse, Madura: cod. KITLV Or 1 (= BCB prtf 46). 31.230 Central Javanese wayai) romances. Poets of Surakarta, flourishing in the middle of the nineteenth century, and belonging to the generation following on the period of Yasadipura (Sastra Nagara), specialized in way at] literature. Sindu Sastra was a prominent author among them. His extensive Arjuna Sasra Bahu version (31.022) was much admired. He also wrote a quartet of poetical romances corresponding with wayai) purwa plays called Parta Yagna, Srikandi-maguru-manah, Sëmbadra Laruit) and Cèkèl Endralaya. His Parta Yagna has another plot than the Old Javanese kakawin Partha Yajna (30.135). Another Surakarta poet of the time was Kusumadilaga, a Royal prince who was a connoisseur of wayat). His treatise on the history of the Javanese theatre, called Sastra

Miruda (see 43.040), contains valuable in formation. According to Poerbatjaraka (“Kapustakan Djawi”, 1952, p. 156) he was the author of several versified wayai) plays. In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries wayat) romances in verse in the style of Sindu Sastra and Kusumadilaga were the favourite reading-matter of Central Java nese ladies and gentlemen. The books were several times published by local printers in Java, and the authors had several imitators. Probably the nostalgic predelection for this kind of romance in verse, set in fancy sur roundings, completely at variance with everyday life, was a consequence of the psychic tension in Javanese society (which still retained many features of olden times), caused by the growing influence of modem European economy and social order in the nineteenth century. In the twentieth cen tury the Javanese reading public, accustomed to the fanciful wayai) romances, was slower in its adaptation to the modem kind of belletristic literature, the psychological novel in prose, set in contemporary surroundings, tlian Malay or Sundanese speaking people, who were less impressed by the splendour of old world epic tales as presented in the wayai) theatre. In consequence of the popularity of ver sified wayai), purwa romances, manuscripts containing these texts sometimes were pro vided with illustrations in wayai) style. In the General Index they have been listed under the catchword illustrations. 31.231 Parta Yagna, Parta Krama, Sri- kandi maguru manah, Sëmbadra Larui), Cèkèl Endra Laya, by Sindu Sastra: cod. 1807 (= 6788 = 10.660 = BCB prtf 142).