著者

青山 亨

出版者

東洋文庫

雑誌

東洋学報 = The Toyo Gakuho (ISSN:03869067)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.77, no.1, pp.1-33, 1995-10

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In the second half of the fourteenth century, the Majapahit court poet Tantular composed two major Old Javanese kakawins, Arjunawijaya and Sutasoma. The former was composed sometime after the death of the powerful chief minister Gajah Mada in 1364, who epitomized the kingdom's expansionist policy, and the latter some time before the death of the king Rājasanagara in 1389. Between the two texts, there is a significant shift in contents and theme, which may be adequately accounted for by referring to the historical context in which they were created. The story of the Arjunawijaya, derived directly from the Rāmāyana cycle, is orthodox Hindu, despite an undercurrent of Buddhist ideology. It recounts that the just king Arjunasahasrabāhu subjugates the evil Rāwaṇa after a series of fierce battles. But his victory is impermanent as Rāwaṇa is spared and destined to become the foe of Rāma, underlining the uncertainty of the peace brought by the kṣatriya rule of force. It has been pointed out that one of the recurrent themes of the text is tension between a king and religious communities, and that this might be an implicit accusation of the Majapahit ruler's neglect of the clerical wellbeing during the expansionist days. The story of the Sutasoma, on the other hand, is based on Tantric Buddhism and is in effect an indigenous creation. The hero attains Buddhahood and the status of universal monarch simultaneously on account of the Tantric concept of non-duality, whereby the tension in the Arjunawijaya is theoretically reconciled, and resolves confrontations by the power of mercy. The practice of cross-cousin marriage is also advocated in order to strengthen the ties between royal families. The author suggests that the text is the poet's proposal for peace in anticipation of the increasing division among the Majapahit royal families which culminated in the civil war in 1406.