Bujangga Manik: Or, Java in the Fifteenth Century

Bujangga Manik is a narrative poem in Old Sundanese which opens a window onto the world of late-15th-century maritime Southeast Asia. The poem describes the spiritual development of a young man from Pakañcilan, in what is now West Java, as he walks and sails across and around Java and Bali, culminating with his death in a mountainside hermitage and ascension to heaven. This volume is an exemplary edition of Bujangga Manik, complete with a revised transliteration; a new English translation; detailed descriptions of the manuscript, script, and language; and an extensive commentary on the poem’s contents, from its setting and characters to its descriptions of ocean-going ships, houses, furniture, perfumes, and much else.