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district in the Brantas delta. Being related with the Sërat Kanda compendiums, the present Rama tales are older than the re naissancist poems in the Yasadipura style, and in some cases they were written in eastern or Pasisir districts, far from Sura karta. Nevertheless they have been regis tered between the renaissance poems (30.900—31.065) and the theatrical litera ture (31.080), because the three groups have several features in common, namely their relationship with pre-Islamic mythology, their epic character and their connection with the wayat} theatre. 31.068 Rama Klit}, East Java and Madura, complete texts and selected episodes, macapat verse: cod. 2047, 2165, 3190, 3999, 4910, 4931, 4933, 4934, 8935, 9039, 9059, 9063, 10.985, Nst 14, REM 3893-1. 31.069 Rama epic, Sërat Kanda, wayai) style, East Java, macapat verse: cod. KITLV Or 4, DFT S 229-128. 31.070 Rama tale, Javanese-Balinese, tëqa- han verse: cod. 4445 (= 10.496 = BCB prtf 16). 31.071 Ramayana Sasak, Javanese-Balinese, macapat verse, major version: cod. 3780 (= 4446 = 10.681 = BCB prtf 162), 4447, KITLV Or 320. 31.072 Ramayana Sasak, Javanese-Balinese, macapat verse, variant version: cod. 3803 (= 4448). 31.073 Rama Klit), Javanese-Balinese, ma capat verse: cod. 4449, 4450. 31.075 Popular Rama offshoot romances. In consequence of the popu larity of the Rama tales in the nineteenth

century, Central Javanese poets made ad ditions and produced new versions. In many cases the additions, called offshoots, were used as scripts of wayat) plays, or they were originally invented by playwrights and afterwards written down in verse. A similar development prevailed with regard to other cycles of popular tales: Ménak Amir Hamza and Radèn Panji romances, and Pandawa epical tales. In the case of the Ménak Amir Hamza romances the so-called offshoot ro mances had a remarkably luxuriant growth (see 30.480 ff.). The Pandawa cycle offshoots are well known. A considerable part of the wayat) purwa plays contains invented tales, offshoots of the classical Bharata Yuddha. The central tales of the Mahabharata epic themselves are seldom played in the wayat) purwa theatre. In the nineteenth century theatrical litera ture occupied an important place in Java nese letters. In w r ayat) purwa plays person ages belonging to the Rama and Pandawa cvcles were made to' meet one another. Hanuman, developing into the great white ape Anoman, appeared as wizard in plays where Pandawas were the heroes. In some cases reincarnation of ancient heroes and heroines in personages belonging to a later period of legendary history was considered a plausible explanation of the reappearance of the same characters in subsequent genera tions. This reappearance is in fact a con sequence of the prevailing religious sense of social and cosmic order, which required the presence of some well-known characters, representatives of aspects of the eternal social order, in all periods of human history. In the Sërat Kanda of the Pasisir era and in subsequent compendiums of tales this con-