186

Their parts in the tale are less important than the röle of Sëmar in several plays of the wayai3 theatre, which will be discussed under another head of the present Part Three (31.080). In his thesis “De Sudamala in de Hindu- “Javaansche Kunst” (Verh. KBG vol. 66, 1925, see 30.030) van Stein Callenfels tried to prove the priority of wayarptheatre plays, as compared with mpu Panuluh’s later kakawins Hari Warjsa and Ghatotkacasraya. In van Stein Callenfels’ opinion the poet adapted existing wayarj-plays, making them into kakawins in the Court style. Beside the appearance of panakawans, the dramatic composition of the poems seems to provide a ground for that supposition. But then, the existence of an extensive literature of wayarj-plays in the twelfth century is un proved. Probably the wayarpplays as known at present, with their intricate composition, were not put in writing before the beginning of the nineteenth century (see 31.080). In the present author’s opinion the appearance of panakawans and some other features in Pa nuluh’s kakawins are better explained by sup posing that he borrowed from the practice of professional popular story-tellers. One might imagine that in the twelfth century, on the one hand, Indian tales in a corrupt form penetrated into the orally transmitted folk tale repertoire and, on the other hand, fea tures of folk-tales appeared in high litera ture. In the course of many centuries the folk-tale repertoire of Java, so enriched and combined with the wayarj-theatre per formers’ art, developed into the extensive literature of wayaij-plays of the nineteenth century. 30.081 Ghatotkacasraya:

cod. 4231 (= 10.529 = BCB prtf 24), 4232. 30.110 Brahmanda Purana, Kun- jara Karna (major kakawin, group A). In contradistinction to the period of the twelfth century Kadiri Kings, the reigns of the Kings of the Siijasari-Majapahit dynasty in the thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth centuries were not fruitful of Old Javanese belletristic Court literature. The political troubles of the thirteenth century (the Chi nese invasion and the sack of the Royal residences of Sirjasari and Kadiri) and the unrest of the fifteenth (the decline of ancient religious and social order and the rise of Islam) were not favourable for the cultivation of Belles-Lettres. Probably the reigns of the fourteenth century Majapahit Kings formed an intermezzo' of relative peace and order in a long series of political troubles and internal wars. The first part of the Majapahit era, the reign of King Hayam Wuruk, was the last flourishing period of pre-Islamic culture; it was illuminated by the evening- sun of Old Javanese civilization which was to give way to the rising crescent of Islam. In the post-Kadiri centuries the fusion of imported Indian civilization and elements of indigenous Javanese culture was com pleted. The process began already in the time of mpu Panuluh and King Jaya Bhaya of Kadiri (see 30.010, Bharata Yuddha, and 30.080, Ghatotkacasraya), in the twelfth century. As a rule thirteenth, fourteenth and fif teenth century Old Javanese books have neither dates nor names of authors and Royal patrons mentioned in the texts. They do not have the character of panegyrics for