The Babad Pamijahan: Sunda, Java and the Identity of the Pamijahanese

Abstract

The babad, or historical chronicle, is widely known as a genre of traditional Javanese literature. The genre came to Sunda in the 18th century through the Javanese administrators who occupied certain territories of Sunda. In Javanese, it is a narrative of past events telling, for example, about the founding of a new settlement or insurrection against an older power. The Javanese chronicle is a literary work written in a poetic metrical form which is intended to be sung. From the perspective of narrative, the babad to some extent is similar to the hikayat or sejarah in traditional Malay terms such as Sejarah Melayu. Like these texts, the babad was traditionally addressed through performance to real and present audiences. Structurally, the babad consists of genealogical and narrative elements. Writing about the very similar Balinese genre, Worsley (1972:4-5) observes that the author of a babad inserts various narratives into particular segments at critical points in the dynastic linkages. This mixture of genealogical and narrative components is especially dense in major babad.