The Loincloth, Trousers, and Horse-riders in Pre-Islamic Java: Notes on the Old Javanese Term Lañciṅan

Abstract

The Old Javanese term lancingan is analysed in detail. Considered by previous scholars to designate “trousers,” it is demonstrated that Old Javanese literary and epigraphical record does not preclude the possibility that in pre-Islamic Java lancingan denoted an elaborate variety of loincloth, especially the loincloth used in the context of warfare. It is shown that only in the 14th century CE Javanese texts make a distinction between the loincloth (cavět) and trousers (lancingan). Yet another term, gadag, denoting exclusively “trousers,” is attested in textual record first in the 14-15th centuries CE. In the second part of the article a hypothesis that the bifurcated lower garment has first been introduced in Java through cultural influences of Islam is questioned. An alternative hypothesis is offered that trousers, related to mounted warfare and increased mobility, were adopted earlier than claimed by previous scholars, already sometime between the 12th-14th centuries CE, as an element of Javanese (battle) dress. The introduction of trousers is seen as part of a complex process of the elaboration of horse-riding techniques and specialized equipment, such as improved saddles.