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MINOR LISTS AND NOTES

60.260 Macapat Metres. Javanese macapat prosody has been discussed in the Preliminary Historical Remarks in Volume I (§ 00070). It seems useful to insert here a list of the best known metres, alphabetically arranged, with some notes. Several less well known metres, like Lontaiq, the Cërbon metres Ladrat}, Sumëkar, Mërjgalaq etc., and the Old Javanese and Javanese-Balinese metres of the macapat and tëqahan varieties have been left out because their structures await further investigation. The first column contains the commonly used names of the metres. Those which are most frequently found in Javanese texts of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries are marked with asterisks. The other metres are obsolete or obsolescent. The second column contains the key words which indicate the names of the metres. The key word is inserted in the last line of the last stanza of a canto in order to forewarn the singer of the poem that the next canto has another metre (and another tune). The key words are allusions to the common names of the metres. The third column gives the numbers of the lines (verses) in the stanzas. It will be seen that the Javanese macapat metres are distinguished one from another in the first place by the length of their stanzas, from 4 up to 10 lines. The fourth column refers to the structure of the stanzas. The figures indicate the number of syllables in a line, and the following vowels the rhyme. In Javanese prosody the rhyme concerns only the vowels, the consonants are free. The obsolete and obsolescent metres have structures which are not as strictly fixed as those °f the common metres. Even with the latter group local variations (East Java, Central Java, Cerbon) are apparent. The following list is based on “Patokan 113 Nëkarakën” by Arja Wiraga (Hardjowirogo), 1952 (Bale Pustaka, Djakarta), supplemented by J. Soegiarto and the present author. *Asmarandana kasmaran, braqti, : 7: 8i 8a 8e(o) 8a 7a 8u 8a kii}kin, dana, kalajjon Balabak balabak : 6: 12a 3é 12a 3é 12a 3é