Bujangga Manik is one of the precious remnants of Old Sundanese literature. It is told in octosyllabic lines – the metrical form of Old Sundanese narrative poetry – in a palm leaf kept in the Bodleian Library of Oxford University in England, since 1627 or 1629 (MS Jav. b. 3 (R), cf. Noorduyn 1968:469, Ricklefs/Voorhoeve 1977:181). Bujangga Manik altogether consists of 29 palm leaves, each containing approximately some 56 lines of 8 syllables. The final part of the text has been transmitted in a lacunary form. Not only is the end lacking, there are two other lacunae. The first break occurs after leaf 26, line 1476.
The hero of the literature is Prabu (English: Prince) Jaya Pakuan alias Bujangga Manik, a Sundanese Hindu hermit, who, though a prince at the court of Pakuan Pajajaran (capital city of Sunda kingdom, which was located near present-day Bogor city in western part of Java island), preferred to live a life of a man of religion. As a hermit he made two journeys from Pakuan Pajajaran to central and eastern Java and back, the second one including a visit to Bali. After his return he practiced asceticism on a mountain in western Java, where his bodily existence came to an end; in the final part of the text the journey of his soul to the heavenly regions is described in great detail.
A considerable part of the text is devoted to a detailed description of the first and the last stretch of the first journey, i.e. from Pakuan Pajajaran to Brebes and from Sunda Kalapa (now: Jakarta) to Pakuan Pajajaran (about 125 lines out of the total of 1641 lines of the incomplete MS), and to the whole of the second journey (about 550 lines). These descriptions are restricted mainly to a mention of the names of places, regions, rivers and mountains situated on or near the route followed. The total number of such names, including those in other parts of the text, comes to some 450, most of them relating to Java island.
The background of Bujangga Manik story had been based on contemporary reality, as is proven by the accuracy of the topographical details of the journeys. These details are therefore of great historical value, especially if the time of writing of this undated story can be at least roughly determined.
It is clear from the text itself that it dates from pre-Muslim times. The script used in the manuscript is the usual Old Sundanese variety of the Indonesian family of Indic syllabaries, which fell into disuse after the penetration of Islam into western part of Java island. The language represents an older stage of Sundanese. It displays a marked influence from Javanese but does not contain one word which is tracable to Arabic, the language of Islam. In the content of the story, too, Islam is completely absent. More specifically the mention of Majapahit, Malaka and Demak allow us to date the writing of the story in the 15th century, probably the later part of this century, or the early 16th century at the latest.
Read more about Bujangga Manik: Summary