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ThePararaton (Book of Kings), also known as theKatuturanira Ken Angrok (Story of Ken Angrok), is a 16th-century[1] Javanese historical chronicle[2]: 187 written inKawi (Old Javanese). The comparatively short text of 32 folio-size pages (1126 lines) contains the history of the kings ofSinghasari andMajapahit in easternJava.
ThePararaton opens with a formal incarnation of the founder of theSinghasari kingdom (1222–1292),Ken Arok (or Ken Angrok).[3] Almost half of the manuscript is the story of Ken Arok's career before he acceded to the throne in 1222. This part ismythical. There then follows several shorter narrative fragments in chronological order. Many of the events recorded here are dated. Towards the end, the pieces of history become shorter and shorter and are mixed withgenealogical information concerning the members of theroyal family of theMajapahit empire.
Since the oldestcolophon in themanuscripts contains the date 1522Saka (1600 AD), the final part of the text must have been written between 1481 and 1600 AD.
This chronicle is most commonly known as thePararaton, a title which does not appear in the body of the text, but only in the colophons of around half of the surviving manuscripts.[4] The body of the text itself begins with the statement: "Thus follows the Story of Ken Angrok" (nihan katuturanira Ken Angrok), which indicates that this was the original title of the text or at least of its first part, which focuses onKen Angrok's life. The edition of the text published by Jan Laurens Andries Brandes furnishes both alternative titles:Serat Pararaton atawa Katuturanira Ken Angrok ("The Book of Kings, or the Story of Ken Angrok"). The addition ofserat, a Modern Javanese term for "book", seems to have been an innovation by Brandes. It is inappropriate to refer to thePararaton as aserat, because it does not belong to the Modern Javanese tradition in whichserat are found. Furthermore, no manuscript of thePararaton refers to the text as aserat.
The most widely acceptable title for this text is thePararaton, often translated asBook of Kings.[5] This term is a nominal derivation from the stemratu ("monarch"). In thePararaton itself, the wordratu is completely gender-neutral, so it should be translated as "monarch" or "royal", rather than as "king". The analysis of the derivation fromratu topararaton is not fully certain, but the morphology denotes plurality. Thus, the termpararaton can best be translated into English asThe Monarchs orThe Royals.[4]
ThePararaton commences with a brief prelude telling how Ken Arok incarnated himself when he became the king.[3] He offered himself as ahuman sacrifice toYamadipati, the Hindu God of Death, to save himself from death. As a reward, he was promised that upon his death he would return toVishnu's heaven and be reborn as a superior king of Singhasari.
The promise was fulfilled. Ken Arok was begotten byBrahma a newly-wedpeasant woman. On his birth, his mother laid him in agraveyard where his body, effulgent with light, attracted the attention of Ki Lembong, a passing thief. Ki Lembong adopted him, raised him, and taught him all of his arts. Ken Arok indulged ingambling, plunder, and rapine. In the manuscript, it is written as such that Ken Arok was saved many times bydivine intervention. There is a scene in Mount Kryar Lejar whereinGods descend in a conference andBatara Guru declares Ken Arok his son. Ken Arok is also destined to bring stability and power to Java.
The prelude of thePararaton is followed by the meeting of Ken Arok withLohgawe, aBrahmana who came fromIndia to make sureBatara Guru's instructions were fulfilled. It was Lohgawe who asked Ken Arok to meetTunggul Ametung, ruler ofTumapel. Ken Arok then killed Tunggul Ametung to gain possession of Ametung's wife,Ken Dedes, and also the throne of Singashari.
Some parts of thePararaton cannot be accounted as historical facts. Especially in the prelude, fact and fiction, fantasy and reality go together. Scholars such asC. C. Berg argued that texts such as these are entirely supernatural and ahistorical, and intended not to record the past, but instead determine future events.[i] However, the majority of scholars accept some historicity in thePararaton, noting numerous correspondences with other inscriptions and Chinese sources, and accept the manuscript's frame of reference within which a valid interpretation is conceivable.[3]
The manuscript was written under the Javanese kingship. For the Javanese people, it was the function of the ruler to link the present with the past and the future and to give human life its appropriate place in thecosmic order. The king, in the Javanese realm, is the sacral embodiment of the total state, just as his palace is a microcosmic copy of the macrocosmos.[3] The king (or a founder of adynasty) possesses an innate divinity to a far higher degree than ordinary men.
Hans Ras in 2001 compared thePararaton with thePallavaCanggal inscription (732 AD), theŚivagŗha (Siwagrha) inscription (856 AD), theCalcutta Stone (1041 AD) and theBabad Tanah Jawi (1836 AD). These show clear similarities in character, structure, and function and also similarity with texts from the Malayhistoriography.[8]
