Model Marion Caunter learning about Aksara Jawa at Amanjiwo. — T'roka
In Central Java, where life tends to be a little quiet and a lot simpler, learning an ancient script is one way for a visitor to embrace local culture.
Aksara Jawa, in which “aksara” means alphabet, is the ancient script of the Java language used in centuries past. This ancient writing system had a few other names, namely the hanacaraka, carakan and dentawyanjana.
The exact year of origin of the Aksara Jawa is not known, but based on some archaeological findings, it could be some time before the seventh century. It is also tied to a legend involving the first king of Java, Aji Saka, who many believe brought civilisation to the kingdom.
According to the legend, Aji Saka told his faithful servants Dora and Sembodo of his intentions to go to Java to fight a cruel ruler and take over a kingdom known as Medang Kamulan. While he is away, he asks that his servants guard his heirloom with their life.
Once he has defeated the ruler and taken over Medang Kamulan, he sends a message to Dora and Sembodo, asking them to bring him his heirloom. The message reaches Dora first, who then passes it on to Sembodo. However, Sembodo becomes suspiscious of Dora and refuses to take the heirloom to Java. This results in a fight to the death between the two.
Wondering why it is taking so long for his servants to come to Java, Aji Saka decides to make his own way home and get his heirloom himself, only to find out that his two loyal servants had died because of a terrible misunderstanding.
In their honour, Aji Saka composed a poem using the hanacaraka script; this script was later expanded and then evolved into Aksara Jawa.
While there are many scholarly books and reports on the history of Aksara Jawa – as well as other traditional Javanese scripts – available today, the reality is that the script is fast losing its place in the modern world. The fundamentals of Aksara Jawa is a compulsory subject in primary schools in Indonesia, but once you move on to secondary school, it is no longer taught.
Caunter trying her hand at Aksara Jawa writing at Amanjiwo. — Troka
“You can learn more about it on your own, or even take up the subject in university, but unless your goal is to become a teacher or lecturer who teaches Aksara Jawa, there is not much reason to continue the lessons (in the script) after primary school,” says Pak Dedi, an employee at the Amanjiwo resort in Central Java. Pak Dedi, along with Pak Mojo, gave a couple of us Malaysians a short lesson in Aksara Jawa. This private session was curated and arranged for us by T'roka, a new bespoke travel brand by Holiday Tours.
The Aksara Jawa experience at Amanjiwo was created by Radit Mahindro, senior regional director of marketing and communications of Aman resorts in Indonesia, and Patrick Vanhoebrouck, Amanjiwo’s “resident anthropologist”, who has been studying and researching Javanese history and culture for more than 20 years. Mahindro, just like many of the resort’s local staff, can write and read Aksara Jawa.
Pak Dedi himself is an Aksara Jawa scholar, having continued his lessons after primary school, all the way to college. He shares that there is still much for him to learn about the script.
“There is so much to learn, from the history to the syllables, to the pronunciation and writing. There is no one text book that we can refer to for the scripts, there are many. And sometimes, there are conflicting notes between them. When this happens, a discussion between the scholars has to take place to figure out which information is acceptable,” he explains.
Writing and reading in Aksara Jawa is not easy. Both our “teachers” of the day say that there are similarities between the script and Hangul, the Korean writing system. In Aksara Jawa, there are 20 letters and these letters are combined to form a syllable. Each word is made up of the combination of these syllables.
The script is also written and read from left to right; when forming syllables, they must be written without spaces in between the letters. On top of that, some syllables also come with specific symbols (“sandangan”) to denote an extra sound or inflection. This is similar to the diacritics that appear in some words in languages which use the Roman alphabet. For example, the accent on the “e” in café.
And then there is also the extra syllables and glyphs that are used when you need to spell foreign words (Aksara Rekan), proper nouns (Aksara Swara) and numbers ...
Obviously, it is impossible to learn everything, or even a quarter of all this, in a single lesson. But Aksara Jawa is an interesting subject that deserves more exposure. At the very least, the ancient script needs to be preserved as a tangible heritage of the Javanese people and culture.
“We still use the script, or some form of it, in our daily lives today. It is also used in some formal and official situations. But there needs to be more people who can teach Aksara Jawa to Indonesians, especially to the younger generation, who unfortunately don’t seem too interested. Perhaps they are too distracted with the offerings of the modern world.
“That said, I am happy that there are some foreign visitors who take the time to learn about our culture, about Aksara Jawa. It makes me proud to be able to teach people, and in a way, help preserve the culture,” says Pak Mojo.
