The Book of Cabolèk

The Scope of the Work The main purpose of this work is to give a critical edition of a Javanese text - the Serat Cabolek - together with an Introduction, an English trans­ lation of the text, and Notes. The present publication is a slighdy revised version of a doctoral dissertation submitted to the Australian National Univer­ sity in 1967. The Introduction to the text begins with a brief description of each of the extant MSS of the Serat Cabolek to be found in the Manuscript Sections of the Jakarta Museum Library and the Lembaga Kebudayaan Indonesia and in the Griental Manuscripts Section of the Leiden University Library. In addition, a description is given of a printed version of the Serat Cabolek. The eleven MSS and the printed text are compared with one another on the points of form, structure and content, in order to discover their mutual relationship. From this comparison it becomes clear that no matter how much these eleven MSS and the printed text of theSerat Cabolek may differ the one from the other, they all share a common core and all ultimately derive from a single source. The kernel of the Serat Cabolek in all probability comprised only the following sections: (1) the story dealing with the trial of Haji Mutamakin by the Kartasura tribunal; (2) the teaching of Dewa Ruci to Bhima; and (3) a commentary on Dewa Ruds counsel to Bhima.