Kakawin Bhāratayuddha

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First page of Gunning's kakawin Bhāratayuddha (1903) in Javanese characters.

The poem was started by Sedah in 1157, and finished by Panuluh. Panuluh also wrote the Kakawin Hariwangsa.

Kakawin Bhāratayuddha is an Old Javanese poetical rendering of some books (parva) of the Mahabharata by Mpu Sedah and his brother Mpu Panuluh in Indian meters (kāvya or Kakawin). The commencement of this work was exactly November 6, 1157. The year of the composition is given in a chronogram sanga-kuda-śuddha-candramā which gives the year 1079 Saka. This is the equivalent of 1157 AD. Bhāratayuddha means "India's War" or "War of Bharat".

It is about the great war between the Pāndavas and the Kauravas on the Kuru field.

Manuscripts of Bhāratayuddha

With some hundred manuscripts that are listed in the catalogues of public libraries in various countries, Kakawin Bhāratayuddha is by far the most-often copied extant Old Javanese work.

Bibliography

• J. G. H. Gunning, 1903, Bhârata-yuddha: Oudjavaansch Heldendicht. ‘s-Gravenhage:Martinus Nijhoff. (Text edition in Javanese characters).
• S. Supomo, 1993, Bhâratayuddha, New Delhi:International Academy of Indian Culture. ISBN 81-85689-43-1
• P. J. Zoetmulder, 1974, Kalangwan. A Survey of Old Javanese Literature, The Hague:Martinus Nijhoff. (Recension, pp. 256–262) ISBN 90-247-1674-8

See also

• Bharatayuddha
• Kakawin Ramayana