Material Text Cultures - Collaborative Research Centre 933 of the German Research Foundation at Heidelberg University

Jiří Jakl

C07

Anthropology
Institute of Anthropology

Telephone: 0049 06221 54-15110
E-Mail:

Address

Heidelberg University
Institut of Anthropology
Voßstraße. 2, CATS building 4110, room 110.01.05
69115 Heidelberg

Research interests

I am interested in the use of script in pre-Islamic Java (before 1500 CE) and modern Hindu Bali, Indonesia. In particular, I study the ritual practice of imposing graphemes of Old Javanese and Balinese syllabaries on various (writing) supports, such as temple doors, ritual implements, but also on bodies of patients. Called nyāsa in Old Javanese, the economy of orthographic modes of expressing metaphysical concerns is ancient in the Javano-Balinese tradition, and can be traced at least to the 9th century CE. While grapheme visualization is the major technique of the imposition, graphemes can also be imposed on objects through the medium of sanctified water or written directly on them by brush, reed-pen or any other writing instrument. Part of my project is to establish a database of rerajahan ("mystical drawings"), orthographic diagrams still used in Bali by traditional healers (balian) and Śaiva priests. Orthographic diagrams are either imposed on the bodies of patients as a specific form of a healing practice or used by the Śaiva priests as a form of self-purification before they embody deity to be worshipped.

Education

Queensland University, Brisbane, Australia:
Ph.D. 13 – 11 – 2014, School of Languages and Comparative Cultural Studies
Dissertation: ‘Literary representations of war and warfare in Old Javanese kakawin poetry.’
Leiden University, the Netherlands:
MA. 2008. Field: Southeast Asian Studies (specialization Old Javanese)

Publications

Recently published peer-reviewed articles and book chapters

(2020a), ‘Śrī-type Rings and Lampblack as a Medium of Seal Impression; A Note on Sealing Practices in Pre-Islamic Java’, Bulletin de l’École française d’Extrême-Orient 105: 61-72
(2020b), ‘The figure of Pañji in Old Javanese sources; What is in a name?’, Wacana 21(1).
(2019a), ‘The Figure of the Tanda in Old Javanese Literary and Epigraphical Records’, Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde 175: 309-39.
(2019b), ‘Cooking for Demons, Soldiers, and Other Men: History of a Ritual Meal in Java and Bali’, in: Cecilia Leong-Salobir (ed.), Routledge Handbook of Food in Asia, New York: Routledge.
(2019c), ‘The Rise of the Chef in Java’, Global Food History 5: 1-19. (Co-authored with Tom Hoogervorst).
(2019d), ‘Pangolin, Rāma, and the garden in Langkā in the 9th-century CE: A few notes on a symbolically powerful “anteater”’, Archipel 97: 69-86.
(2017a), ‘Black Africans on the Maritime Silk Route: Jənggi in Old Javanese Epigraphical and Literary Evidence’, Indonesia and the Malay World 45(133): 1 – 18. (The article was commended for 2016 Young Scholar Prize).
(2017b), ‘Custom, Combat, and Ceremony: Java and the Indo-Persian Textile Trade’ (co-authored with Tom Hoogervorst), Bulletin de l’École française d’Extrême Orient 103: 207-35.
(2017c), ‘About elephant tusks, recluses, and beautiful girls: The banana plant and its symbolic meanings in Old Javanese literature’, Pandanus 16(1): 67 – 80.
(2017d), ‘The sling and the blowgun as combat weapons in pre-Islamic Java; Notes on Old Javanese terms gandi and tulup’, Wacana 18(3): 641-57.
(2016a), ‘Literary Motif of Head-Taking in Old Javanese Court Poems (Kakavin): Cəngəl and Waragang Terms Revisited,’ Indonesia and the Malay World 44(129): 165 – 187.
(2016b), ‘The Loincloth, Trousers, and Horse-riders in Pre-Islamic Java: Notes on the Old Javanese Term Lañcingan,’ Archipel 91: 185 – 202.
(2016c), ‘Liquor in Glass Vessels: A Note on Glassware in Hindu-Buddhist Java and its Socio-Religious Symbolism,’ Archipel 93.
(2016d), ‘The Folding Book Format (Concertina) in Pre-Islamic Java: Revisiting the Old Javanese Term Ləpihan,’ Bulletin de l’École Française d’Extrême Orient 102: 165 – 93.
(2015a), ‘Sugar palms and celestial nymphs in Old Javanese kakavin poetry: erotic and martial symbolism of the literary motif,’ Pandanus 15(1): 89 – 119.
(2015b), ‘Bhoma’s Kitchen: Food Culture and Food Symbolism in Pre-Islamic Java,’ Global Food History 1(1): 33 – 58.
(2015c), ‘Literary representations of the coconut palm in Old Javanese kakavin poetry,’ Pandanus 15(2): 43 – 58.
(2014), ‘The whale in the Old Javanese kakawin literature: timinggila, ‘elephant fish,’ and ləmbwara terms revisited,’ Pandanus 14(2): 103 – 118.
(2012), ‘Swarming ants and their kin in the Old Javanese kakawin literature,’ Pandanus 12(1): 47 – 63.
(2011), ‘The buffalo and wild cattle in Old Javanese literature,’ Pandanus 11(1): 25 – 36.
(2008), ‘Trees and langö in Old Javanese Poems,’ Pandanus 8(1): 18-31.

Published book reviews

Transformation of religions as reflected in Javanese texts, edited by Yumi Sugahara & Willem van der Molen, Tokyo: Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies (Javanese Studies 5), 2018, in: Bulletin de l’École française d’Extrême-Orient 105: 407-11, 2019.
Spirits and Ships; Cultural Transfers in Early Monsoon Asia, edited by Andrea Acri, Roger Blench, and Alexandra Landmann, Singapore: ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute, 2017, in: Archipel 97: 239-43, 2019.
Buddhist Law in Burma: A History of Dhammasattha Texts and Jurisprudence, 1250-1850, by Christiaan D. Lammerts, Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 2018, in: Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde 175(2/3): 365-68, 2019.
Warring Societies of Pre-Colonial Southeast Asia: Local Cultures of Conflict Within a Regional Context, edited by Michael Charney & Kathryn Wellen, 2018, in: Bulletin de l’École française d’Extrême-Orient 104: 399-404, 2018.
Ancient Southeast Asia, by John N. Miksic & Geok Yian Goh, London/New York: Routledge, 2017, in: Bulletin de l’École française d’Extrême-Orient 103: 528-30, 2017.
The Kakawin Ghatotkacāśraya by Mpu Panuluh, by Stuart Robson, Tokyo: Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies (Javanese Studies 3), 2017, in: Bulletin de l’École française d’Extrême-Orient 103: 530-36.
Mpu Monaguna’s Sumanasāntaka: An Old Javanese Epic Poem, its Indian Source and Balinese Illustrations, by Peter Worsley, S. Supomo, Th. Hunter, and M. Fletcher (Bibliotheca Indica 36), Leiden/Boston: Brill, 2013, in: Bulletin de l’École française d’Extrême-Orient 101: 381 – 84, 2017.
Singapore and the Silk Road of the Sea, 1300-1800, by John N. Miksic, Singapore: NUS Press, in: Bulletin de l’École française d’Extrême-Orient 102: 149 – 54.

Forthcoming book

Alcohol in Early Java (c. 800 – 1500 CE): Its Social and Cultural Significance. Forthcoming, the Brill.

Published non-refereed article

(2013), ‘Warriors Killed, Sliced as Cucumber: Food Symbolism in the Martial Scenes of Old Javanese Kakawins,’ Nalanda-Sriwijaya Centre Working Papers Series 13: 1-29.