Pararaton

Since the oldest colophon in the manuscripts contains the date of 1522 Saka (A.D. 1600 ), the final part of the text must have been written between A.D. 1481 and 1600 , presumably closer to the first than to the second date.

Almost half of the text is taken up by the story of Ken Angrok or Ken Arok , who founded the Singhasari kingdom in 1222 . This part is clearly Mythical in character. Then there follow a number of shorter narrative fragments in a chronological succession. 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 Majapahit .

The importance of the Angrok story is not only indicated by its length, but also by the fact that it furnishes an alternative name: ''Serat Pararaton atawa Katuturanira Ken Angrok'', i.e. 'The Book of the Dynasty of the Story Recorded about Ken Angrok'.

REFERENCES

J.L.A. Brandes , 1897, Pararaton (Ken Arok) of het boek der Koningen van Tumapěl en van Majapahit. Uitgegeven en toegelicht. Batavia: Albrecht; 's Hage: Nijhoff. VBG 49.1.

J.J. Ras , 1986, Hikayat Banjar and Pararaton. A structural comparison of two chronicles. In: C.M.S. Hellwig and S.O. Robson (eds.), A man of Indonesian letters (Dordrecht, Cinnaminson: Foris VKI 121, pp. 184-203), ISBN 90-6765-206-7

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Pararaton