The Reworking of Indian Epics in the Hands of Javanese and Malay Authors

Abstract

As a natural junction of sea routes between India and China, the so-called Malay World—comprising the present Republic of Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, southern Thailand and southern Philippines—has for centuries been the meeting point of Chinese, Indian, Arab and European influences, which in turn played a decisive role in the development of early Malay World literature, both in manuscript and oral forms. The arrival of Hinduism, before the coming of Islam, provided a great surge of artistic expression in the Malay World’s traditional literature.