The Dutch Nagara-Kertagama translation on which Professor Kern worked, at intervals, during eleven years, deserves our utmost admir ation and respect. It is the last important piece of work he finished before his death. It has enriched in an extraordinarily high degree our knowledge of the history and antiquities of the Majapahit period. Moreover, its dignified and courtly style established the reputation of Old Javanese letters as a literature of considerable interest. The con tents of the Nagara-Kertiigama, as interpreted by Professor Kern, gave 14th century Majapahit a nimbus, making it appear to the uncritical public as a most powerful and highly cultured Empire, organized on 18th or 19th century West-European lines. The notes of Krom, Poerbatjaraka and others do not contain com plete translations of the texts. These scholars made valuable contribu tions to a better understanding of several passages. They did not make it easy for the general reader to consult their notes, though. Professor Kern's appreciation of the contents of the Nagara-Kertagama remained fundamentally unshaken. Up to the present time Professor Kern's Nagara-Kertagama trans lation has been generally used and highly appreciated by students of Indonesian cultures and by the public interested in Old Javanese his tory, both in Indonesia and elsewhere. In 1953 a modern Malay trans lation by Slametmuljana was published in Djakarta (Negarakretagama, diperbaharui kedalam bahasa Indonesia). But then, since Professor Kern's days research has made progress. It is clear, nowadays, that his translation has the defects of its good qualities.
This is the first and most important book about the Island of Java and is essential reading for anyone interested in Javanese history and culture. Originally published in 1811, Island of Java was the first popular work in English to describe what for many centuries was the most important island in the vast Indonesian archipelago. Like most works published during this time, Island of Java recounts everything that was known at the time about the island and its inhabitants. Detailed descriptions are given of Java's ecology, history and culture, including methods of tribute and tazation used by the Dutch colonists and the design of the fortifications surrounding Batavia. Also described are such things as the dining habits of the Dutch administrators, the execution of thirteen of the ruler's concubines in Surakarta, and the notorious Upas or "Poison Tree of Java", believed to exude a foul odor which routinely annihilated all living things for miles around. Island of Java preceded by several years the publication of Major Willam Thorn's The Conquest of Java (1815) and Thomas Stamford Raffles' The History of Java (1817). The book enjoyed a great popularity and quickly passed into a second edition. This reprint is enhanced by a scholarly Introduction by Dr. John Bastin, former Reader at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, and a world authority on nineteenth century Java.
In the course of the nineteenth century, colonial rule, population pressure and Islamic reform all acted to undermine this 'mystic synthesis'. Pious Muslims became divided amongst adherents of that synthesis, reformers who demanded a more orthoprax way of life, reforming Sufis and those who believed in messianic ideas. A new category of Javanese emerged, people who resisted Islamic reform and began to attenuate their Islamic identity. This group became known as abangan, nominal Muslims, and they constituted a majority of the population. For the first time a minority of Javanese converted to Christianity. The priyayi elite, Java's aristocracy, meanwhile embraced the forms of modernity represented by their European rulers and the wider advances of modern scientific learning.