Dialectical of Islam and Javanese culture in Suluk Saloka Jiwa by Ranggawarsita

Abstract

Efforts to find the intersection of Islam and Javanese culture have occurred since a long time ago. One of the effort was Javanese literary texts that dialected within those two entities. Ranggawarsita figure is an intensely Javanese poet voicing the problem. Through his work, Suluk Saloka Jiwa, written in the XIX Century, Ranggawarsita tells Sang Hyang (God) Vishnu from Java who studied to Sheikh Usman Najid from Turkey. As a result, a dialectic that Sang Hyang Vishnu, in wadag (physical) remains Javanese but spiritually has actually become an Islamic or monotheist. This article is a philological research of the text of Suluk Saloka Jiwa by Ranggawarsita. With the hermeneutic approach, the author tries to uncover the meaning of the texts (mythical poetry form in Javanese literature). And the spirit of the text can be a model of cultural strategy seeking the intersection of Islam and Java.