Kakawin Hariwangsa

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Kakawin Hariwangsa

 

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Kakawin Hariwangsa is an Old Javanese poem in Indian metres (kakawin or kavya)

which tells the story of Krishna, as an avatar of Vishnu, when he wished to

marry the Goddess Rukminī, from the land of Kundina, and daughter of Lord

Bhishmaka. Rukmini is an avatar of the goddess Śrī.

 

The meaning of the title

In its most fundamental meaning, Hariwangsa means the genealogy or family tree

of the god Hari, or Vishnu. In India Harivamśa in Sanskrit is a literary work

about Vishnu and his family tree in which the story of the marriage of Krishna

and Rukminī is but a small part. Therefore, in the case of the Kakawin

Hariwangsa, the name is not entirely appropriate because this kakawin only

covers a small part of the story outlined in the Harivamśa.

 

Contents

The Lord Krishna was walking in a garden when he received a visit from the god

Narada, who told him that his designated wife, an avatar of the goddess Śrī,

was going to descend to earth in the land of Kundina. Krishna, as an avatar of

the god Vishnu, must marry her. This avatar of the goddess Sri was called the

goddess Rukminī, who would be the daughter of prabu Bhishmaka. However, the

royal Jarasanda was about to marry her to the King of Cedi, who was called Lord

Cedya.

Thus, Krishna wanted to elope with the goddess Rukminī. One evening before the

celebrations for the wedding were held, Krishna went to Kundina and ran away

with Rukmini. Guests from many countries had already arrived at the wedding.

Lord Bhishmaka was extremely angry, and he immediately held discussions with the

other visiting kings. They were scared to confront Krishna as he was known to

have magical powers. Then Jarasanda developed a strategy to fight him, that is

to enlist the assistance of Yudistira and the other Pandava.

A messenger was then sent to Lord Yudistira, who was quite confused. On the one

hand, he had the obligation to a noble knight to protect the earth and fight

evil. Krishna was a close friend of the Pandava, however his actions were wrong

and had to be punished. Finally he agreed to help Jarasanda. Nevertheless, Bhima

was furious and wished to kill murder Jarasanda's messenger, but was prevented

by Arjuna. A short while later, they received a visit from an ambassador from

Krishna asking their help. Because they had already promised their help to

Jarasanda, Yudistira was forced to turn down the request while telling the

ambassador that Krishna had no need to worry because of his divine powers.

The five Pandava then left for the land of Karawira, where Lord Jarasanda ruled,

and then all the Kaurava invaded Dwarawati, Krishna's country.

Meanwhile, Krishna was preparing to face his enemies, helped by his older

brother, Baladewa. The two of them defeated many enemies. Jarasanda, the

Kaurava, Bima and Nakula and Sahadewa were all slain. Yudistira was rendered

unconscious by Krishna and couldn't move. Then Krishna was challenged by Arjuna

and nearly lost, and thus the god Vishnu descended from heaven. Krishna, as an

avatar of Vishnu turned into Vishnu, while Arjuna, who was also an avatar of

Vishna, also turned into Vishnu. Yudistira then became conscious again, and

asked Vishnu to bring back to life all those who had been slain in the fighting.

Vishnu agreed, and He rained down immortality and all those who had been slain

came back to life, including Jarasanda. They all then joined the festivities for

Krishna's wedding in Dwarawati.

 

Author

Kakawin Hariwangsa was written by mpu Panuluh while Lord Jayabaya ruled in

Kediri from 1135 to 1157 AD.

 

Themes

The themes discussed in the Kakawin Hariwangsa are similar to those in the

Kakawin Kresnâyana. Experts in Old Javanese literature are of the opinion that

the kakawin Hariwangsa was more successful in its execution of the themes that

occur in both works. The kakawin Hariwangsa is simpler than the Kresnayana, so

it is possible that mpu Panuluh re-composed an existing story for unknown

purposes. There is also the possibility that he was requested to compose the

story by Lord Jayabaya or indeed did so just because he wished to. In the

kakawin itself, it is written that mpu Panuluh wrote it because: " tambenya

pangiketkw apét laleh " , which means " the reason for composing this story is to

seek success. " This is taken by ancient Javanese literature experts to mean that

this kakawin is only a draft. Mpu Panuluh is also known for the kakawin

Bharatayuddha which he wrote with mpu Sedah.

There are also several things in the kakawin that are both awkward and

interesting, for instance, how the Pandava were able to be wounded fighting

Krishna, while their allies in the story were the Kaurava, who were actually

hereditary enemies of the Pandava. Indeed, everything ends well for all parties,

something which generally does not happen in Indian epic literature, and this is

an indication of an " Indonesianisation " of this kakawin. Indeed, there are

experts who believe that this kakawin is in truth a script intended specifically

for a Wayang performance.

 

ReferencesA. Teeuw, 1950, Hariwangsa, Den Haag: Martinus Nijhoff. VKI 9.

(Extracts of texts, in Dutch) Petrus Josephus Zoetmulder, 1974, Kalangwan. A

Survey of Old Javanese Literature, The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff. (Review, pages

250-255).

 

 

with regards

dilip                    

      

Bagavad Gita chapter 6 sloka 5

 uddhared âtmanâtmânam

nâtmânam avasâdayet

âtmaiva hy âtmano bandhur

âtmaiva ripur âtmanah