Serat Centhini

Serat Centhini is a twelve volume compilation of Javanese tales and teachings, written in verse and published in 1814. The work was commissioned, directed and partially written by Crown Prince Mangkunegoro, later enthroned as Pakubuwono V of Surakarta, with contributions from three court poets from different palaces.

The events depicted in Serat Centhini take place in the 1630s, when Sultan Agung of Mataram's army captured the city of Giri Kedaton in Gresik, East Java, after a siege.

Giri Kedaton had religious school that was founded by Sunan Giri, one of the Wali Sanga. The school grew and became famous as a center of Muslim teaching, which gave it political influence in the surrounding region. It attracted learners from multiple societal groups and from regions as far away as Ternate Sultanate.

Giri Kedaton reached the peak of its influence under Sunan Giri Prapen who ruled it from 1548–1605. Sultan Agung of the larger Mataram Sultanate regarded this as a threat, so in 1630 he sent an army under his brother-in-law, Pangeran Pekik to capture Giri Kedaton. Giri Kedaton finally surrendered in 1636. Sunan Giri Prapen was captured and brought to Mataram's capital Kota Gede, known today as Yogyakarta.

The main characters of Serat Centhini are Sunan Giri Prapen's three young children who escape Giri Kedaton overnight, hours before the city falls to the army from Mataram. The children become separated in the confusion as inhabitants flee the city. They each spend several years wandering around Java, only to be re-united many years later.

The main characters of the story are:

The Centhini story is separated by phases of its characters' lives (pre-adulthood, adulthood and post-adulthood) and by the adventures of each character (Jayengresmi, Jayengsari, Rancangkapti and Mas Cabolang).

In the pre-adulthood journey, geographic locations still can be identified on the real-world map. But in the post-adulthood journeys, the locations become mystical and imaginary, as though in a different realm. The mixture of real-world and imaginary locations is similar to that of Homer's Odyssey.

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