Professor Dr Wardiman Djojonegoro
Expert, Ministry of Education and Culture, Indonesia
This paper describes the history of Panji literature and culture in Java since its appearance in the 14th century. The stories of the Javanese cultural hero prince, Inu Kertapati, mark the development of truly Javanese literature that was no longer overshadowed by the great Indian epics, the Ramayana and Mahabharata.
Set among the eastern Javanese kingdoms, the stories tell of Panji’s search for his beloved Princess Candra Kirana, before the two lovers are happily reunited. During the Majapahit Empire from the 14th to 15th centuries, the Panji stories became extremely popular, spreading from Java to Bali, Lombok, Sulawesi, Kalimantan and Sumatra.
The Panji tales were spread by merchants along the trading routes and crossed the borders to the Malay region, then further spread to Vietnam, Thailand, Myanmar and Cambodia. The Panji influence is described by renowned scholar Adrian Vickers as “a Panji civilization in Southeast Asia.”
Panji tales are unique as there was no single author; the tales were written by diverse authors who were creative in titles and content, using local culture and language. In Bali, Panji stories are called Malat, while in Malaysia, Hikayat. In Thailand and the neighboring countries, the character of Panji is known as Inao or Eynao and his lover as Bussaba.
Another unique feature of Panji is diversity, which is found in the writing material, manuscripts, art expressions and performing arts. As well, Panji tales have become the sources of inspiration of other forms of local culture, including dances, theatrical performances, traditional wayang (wayang beber, wayang kelir, wayang krucil) and mask performances. Panji tales are found engraved as reliefs on temples throughout East Java, with Panji featured as a character with a distinctive cap on his head.
In October 2017, manuscripts of Panji tales from Indonesia, Malaysia, Cambodia and the Netherlands were inscribed in the Memory of the World of UNESCO. The paper describes some aspects of the literature, especially the manuscripts, and one performing art, wayang beber.
(Presented in the 2019 Chulalongkorn Asian Heritage Forum : Panji/Inao – Preserving and Reviving the Shared Heritage of Southeast Asia, 20 June 2019, W Bangkok Hotel, Bangkok, organized by Institute of Thai Studies and Department of Thai, Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkorn University)