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Concept
Pararaton
Summary
The Pararaton (Book of Kings), also known as the Katuturanira Ken Angrok (Story of Ken Angrok), is a 16th-century Javanese historical chronicle written in Kawi (Old Javanese). The comparatively short text of 32 folio-size pages (1126 lines) contains the history of the kings of Singhasari and Majapahit in eastern Java.
Pararaton opens with a formal incarnation of the founder of Singhasari kingdom (1222–1292), Ken Arok (or Ken Angrok). Almost half of the manuscript is the story of Ken Arok's career before his accession to the throne in 1222. This part is clearly mythical in character. There then follow a number of shorter narrative fragments in chronological order. Many of the events recorded here are dated. Towards the end the pieces of history become shorter and shorter and are mixed with genealogical information concerning the members of the royal family of the Majapahit empire.
Since the oldest colophon in the manuscripts contains the date 1522 Saka (1600 AD), the final part of the text must have been written between 1481 and 1600 AD.
This chronicle is most commonly known as the Pararaton, a title which does not appear in the body of the text, but only in the colophons of around half of the surviving manuscripts. The body of the text itself begins with the statement: "Thus follows the Story of Ken Angrok" (nihan katuturanira Ken Angrok), which indicates that this was the original title of the text or at least of its first part, which focuses on Ken Angrok's life. The edition of the text published by J.L.A. Brandes furnishes both alternative titles: Serat Pararaton atawa Katuturanira Ken Angrok ("The Book of Kings, or the Story of Ken Angrok"). The addition of serat, a Modern Javanese term for "book", seems have been an innovation by Brandes. It is inappropriate to refer to the Pararaton as a serat, because it does not belong to the Modern Javanese tradition in which serat are found. Furthermore, no manuscript of the Pararaton refers to the text as a serat.
The most widely acceptable title for this text is the Pararaton, often translated as Book of Kings.
Official source
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