50

10.000

OLD JAVANESE RELIGIOUS LITERATURE

about divine exploits and the establishing of order in cosmos and human society. In the present Synopsis texts on mythology have been registered in Part Two. In the pre-Islamic period laymen depended completely on the clergy for officiating in various religious functions, mostly sacrificial and consecration ceremonies. Participation of the laity was expected only in the form of providing offerings (flowers, incense and food) and accessories, and in devout atten tion. Holy water consecrated by an officiating priest was for laymen the means of hallowing places, persons and things. Especially in present-day Bali the laity’s (and also the clergy’s) contact with divine presence seems to be established pre-eminently through the intermediary of holy water. As a consequence Balinese religion as a whole is very aptly called holy-water religion (Agama Tlrtha, the title of Dr Hooykaas’ “Studies in Bali nese Religion”, 1964). In pre-Islamic Java holy water may have occupied a similar place in the laity’s life, but explicit evidence in texts is lacking. Offerings are mentioned in many Javanese- Balinese books of notes on ritual. Texts on magic and medicines, which in the Synopsis have been registered in Part Four, some times refer also to offerings. But unfortu nately in many cases only the raw materials of the offerings are mentioned. The com position of the intricate structures of flowers and various kinds of food, cakes etc., belonged to the province of expert women. Their lore was not put into writing, it was transmitted only orally from mother to daughter and from mistress to maid. In present-day Bali the laymen’s prefer ence for either a siwaite or a Buddhist priest

to officiate in a given ceremony depends much more on family tradition and personal acquaintance than on belief in siwaitic or Buddhistic religious tenets. Perhaps a similar attitude prevailed already in pre-Islamic Java. In fact, during many centuries siwaitic and Buddhist (Tantristic) ecclesiastics in Java and Bali showed a tendency to entertain relations of good neighbourliness, and their religious speculations and rites tended to become similar. In order to facilitate the survey, siwaitic and Buddhist texts have been registered separately in the present Synopsis as far as possible. Both siwaitic and Buddhist Old Javanese treatises and notes on religious speculation and ritual are based on short Sanskrit texts. The oldest treatises consisted of Sanskrit texts provided with Old Javanese paraphra ses. In a following stage the paraphrases were enlarged so as to become commentar ies. Gradually, as the interest in the original Sanskrit texts flagged, they became unin telligible in consequence of mistakes made by generations of copyists and were dropped, and the commentaries developed into inde pendent treatises. Finally special subjects mentioned in older texts were given separate treatment. In the Islamic period of Javanese cultural history Arabic religious texts per formed the same function (see 14.400). The course of development of Old Java nese religious texts has already been de scribed by Dr Goris (“Bijdrage tot de Kennis “der Oud-Javaansche en Balineesche Theolo- “gie”, 1926). Afterwards Dr Zieseniss wrote an enlightening treatise in German on Old Javanese siwaitic religious literature (“Stu- “dien zur Geschichte des Qivaismus, I, Die “Qivaitischen Systeme in der Altjavanischen