Losari is, at least the nominal boundary between tbem, on tbe northern srde of the
island. In tbe ancient state of Cberibon, both languages are
bably from this circumstance that it takes its name, winch is
Charubin, which literally signifies “ mixture.” The Javanese as
their own country Tanah or Siti Java, that is, “ the Javanese la° d> an(i “ ® „
which the Sunda language is spoken, Tanak Suda or p ^undan
or “ country” of the Sunda nation. In some respects, the two langua es stana i
each other in the same relation as English and Welsh, French and Armoi ica p
and Basque, ¡although, the two tongues, in this case, being of the same iamily, tne
d lTheJavanese, by far the most cultivated tongue, has been immemormlly a wntten
language, and its alphabet has extended to the Sunda iangu^e “
Lomboc and of Palembung in Sumatra. . Inscriptions on stone and brass will car y
Bcript”ialThe'1character's p e l u ^ s e n t i a l l y S S « S
the vowels mire adjunctive signs to modify them, or as ^ J a v a n e s e designate them
■ «„loflnne” sandan°un. The consonants are nineteen in number, but the initial
character, and the same character has invariably the one power an direct and
There « three dialects of the % % £ £ £ &
i tg u a ^ o T E u i l p e l t lZ v : aTrienfrom th e ^ r e T k S lw i i of languages of complex
S e , through'an admixture of fcrdg* ^ $ £ £ * £ * £ * £
* % s s s s s s £ iS a s s s f o ? s “ — ¡ , « > , * « * » « p i t
a n ? for tl^ sam e endl to change^wiSs1 of the'vulgar'tongiml ^ ^ ^ ^ |^ t h a t ^ f c^^-
nations. The ceremonial language is that P ^ . ^ ^ r l ’^ ther's in the vulgar tongue, 5^^fsaiargEBS55
f i s S i l i S S S d“ X “ (% t a S o Z “m lo “ " S d . ¿ » » “ 8 8 « of » medial, t a t m m of 0 »
singular language began to be framed, but we may be sure that its formation was
gradual, and that, in its present shape, it is the accumulation of many ages. It
contains many Sanscrit words, and therefore it must be concluded that it received a
large increase after the introduction of Hinduism. It has even a few Arabic words,
and hence it is to be inferred that it received some access, since the conversion to
Mahometanism. The bare existence of such a language, it may safely be asserted,
implies a very ancient civilisation, as well as the long existence of a thorough despotism.
The recondite language of Java may be said, in many respects, to bear the same
relation to the popular one, that Sanscrit does to the current languages of Hindustan,
Pali to the Hindu-Chinese languages and Singalese, or Zend to the modem language
of Persia. In Bali and Lomboc it is still the language of the priesthood; but in Java,
where, no doubt, it once was so also, and from which these small islands received it, it
is, at present, entirely a dead tongue, found only in ancient inscriptions and manuscripts.
The name by which it is usually known is kawi, which is, however, only the
correlative of jawi, signifying in this sense “ refined,” in opposition to vulgar or common,
the final vowel of both words being changed from a to i, so as to make them to
belong to the polite dialect. The original word kawi seems to be the Sanskrit kavya,
meaning “ narrative,” a sense in which it also occurs in Javanese. In Java, there are
many ancient insci’iptions on stone and brass in this dialect, written in an obsolete
character, yet essentially the same as the modern, for the form and powers of the
letters, and the vowel-marks and orthographic signs are mere modifications, the
characters only ruder in form and less connected with one another. No ancient
inscription in Java exists in the modern character, but this is no proof that it did not
exist cotemporaneously with the ancient, for even in Bali and Lomboc kawi writings
are in the modern character of Java. The ancient character was, indeed, probably,
at all times, confined to the priesthood, and to inscriptions which have always more
or less of a theological character. In corroboration, I may state that I found the
same to be the case in Burmese inscriptions, which are invariably in the Pali character,
even when in the popular language, and of modern date. Certain it is, at all events,
that the modern character of Java is near 400 years old, for it is written inPalembang,
in Bali, and Lomboc, with no material difference from what it is in Java, after a virtual
separation since the year 1478.
The foreign languages which we find mixed with the Javanese are Sanscrit, Arabic,
and Talugu, or Telinga; All these have found their way into it, not through foreign
conquest, and the intermixture and settlement of men of strange race, but through
the influence of religion and commerce. Of these languages by far the largest infusion
is of Sanscrit. Of the first conversion of the Javanese to Hinduism, and consequent
influx of its sacred language into Javanese, there is no record whatever ; but it seems
probable, from the extent of the influence exercised, that the connection is of great
antiquity,—probably little short of twenty centuries. In the ordinary language of
Java, the proportion of Sanscrit words is about 11 in 100, but in the kawi, or recondite,
it is not less than 40 per cent. The proportion of Arabic in Javanese is comparatively
small. Nineteen out of twenty of the words are nouns; none of them affect
the grammatical structure of the language, and all that require it are altered in pronunciation,
so as to suit the genius of Javanese prosody. The Talugu words introduced
are very few in number, and most of them may be traced to the influence of
commerce.
The literature of the Javanese is sufficiently abundant, and exists both in the
ancient and modern languages. In both it is metrical throughout, the first being in
different metres, borrowed from Sanscrit poetry, and the last in native stanzas, of
many kinds, and in a peculiar rhyme. The principal portion of Javanese literature
consists of romances, ¿filed in the native language, konda, and in Sanscrit, charitra, and
of histories, partaking too much of the character of the romances, called babad, which
signifies, literally, “ clearing land of forest.” The romances are founded, some of
them, on Hindu legends, aud others on ancient Javanese story. Of the Sanscrit poems,
which describe the wars of the Pandus, and the adventures of the demi-god Rama, the
Javanese possess abstracts both in the ancient and modem tongue. These two poems
are to the Javanese, and through the Javanese to the other civilised nations of the
Archipelago, what the poems of Homer were to the Greeks and Romans, and they
have even laid the scenes of them in their own island. The poem which describes
the wars of the Pandus is known to the Javanese by the name of the Bratayuda, a
title which is composed of two Sanscrit words, signifying “ the war of the descendants
of Barat.” This, the most meritorious production of Javanese literature, is said to
have been composed in the 12th century (1195),• by a Bramin of the name of