West Java is an Indonesian province on the western part of the island of Java, with its provincial capital in Bandung. West Java is bordered by the province of Banten and the country's capital region of Jakarta to the west, the Java Sea to the north, the province of Central Java to the east and the Indian Ocean to the south. With Banten, this province is the native homeland of the Sundanese people, the second-largest ethnic group in Indonesia.
Nyi Roro Kidul is a supernatural being in Indonesian folklore. She is the Queen of the Southern Sea in Sundanese and Javanese mythology.
Tembang sunda, also called seni mamaos cianjuran, is a style of classical vocal music that originated in the Priangan highland of western Java. Unlike Sundanese gamelan music, tembang sunda was developed in the court of the regent Kabupaten Cianjur during the Dutch colonial period. The traditional vocal portion is sung free verse poetry, the instrumental accompaniment being performed on kacapi (zither), suling and sometimes, rebab (violin). A more modern, and metrical, form of lyrics exists that is called panambih.
Ciung Wanara is a legend among Sundanese people, in Indonesia. Ciung Wanara was a nickname of Prince Manarah of Sunda–Galuh Kingdom. He was a relative of the famous King Sanjaya of Mataram.
Pantun Sunda is a type of Sundanese oral narrative performance interspersed with songs and music played on a kacapi, a kind of zither. A pantun is intended to be recited during an evening-length performance during which a single performer relates the story of a hero's initiation: The protagonist leaves his kingdom to seek experiences, beautiful princesses to become his wife, power, other kingdoms to the subject, the realization of a dream ; after having succeeded in reaching his goal he finally returns to his kingdom. Alongside descriptions of historical events, the stories often contain mythical elements. Pantun were originally not written down, the bards often being illiterate and in many cases blind. Originally the performances had a sacred character, as was clear from the offerings made at the beginning of the recitation and also from the content of the introductory part of the story, called rajah, which was an invocatory song, imploring the help of divine figures to ward off bad influences. The linguistic form of the pantun was not strictly fixed, however, the dominant form employed in most pantun is the octosyllabic verse. For a detailed description of the nature and form of a Sundanese pantun you are referred to Eringa (1949), to Hermansoemantri (1977–79).
The Sunda Kingdom was a Sundanese Hindu kingdom located in the western portion of the island of Java from 669 to around 1579, covering the area of present-day Banten, Jakarta, West Java, and the western part of Central Java. The capital of the Sunda Kingdom moved several times during its history, shifting between the Galuh (Kawali) area in the east and Pakuan Pajajaran in the west.
Pakuan Pajajaran was the fortified capital city of Sunda Kingdom. The location roughly corresponds to modern Bogor city in West Java, Indonesia, approximately around the site of Batu Tulis. The site is revered as the spiritual home of Sundanese people as it contains much of the shared identity and history of Sundanese people.
The Galuh Kingdom was a medieval Sundanese kingdom located in the eastern part of Tatar Sunda, present-day Indonesia. It was established as a breakaway kingdom of the Tarumanagara around the 7th century. Traditionally the kingdom was associated with the Central & Eastern Parahyangan cultural regions, with territory spanning from Citarum River in the west, to Cipamali and Cisarayu River in the east. Its capital was first located in Karangkamulyan, Ciamis Regency, then Saunggalah, Kuningan and Kawali, north of present-day Ciamis. The etymology of "galuh" is Old Sundanese and Kawi word for "gemstone".
Parahyangan or Priangan is a cultural and mountainous region in West Java province on the Indonesian island of Java. Covering a little less than one-sixth of Java, it is the heartland of Sundanese people and their culture. It is bordered to the West by Banten province, to the North by the northern coast region of Subang, Cirebon, and Indramayu, to the east by Central Java province, and to the south by the Indian Ocean.
Oto Iskandar di Nata was an Indonesian politician and National Hero.
The Battle of Bubat also known as Pasunda Bubat is the battle between the Sundanese royal family and the Majapahit army that took place in Bubat Square on the northern part of Trowulan in 1279 Saka or 1357 CE.
Ajip Rosidi was an Indonesian poet and short story writer. As of 1983 he had published 326 works in 22 different magazines.
Loetoeng Kasaroeng is a 1926 fantasy film from the Dutch East Indies which was directed and produced by L. Heuveldorp. An adaptation of the Sundanese folktale Lutung Kasarung, the film tells of a young girl who falls in love with a magical lutung and stars the children of noblemen. Details on its performance are unavailable, although it is known to have been of poor technical quality and thought to have performed poorly. It was the first film produced in the country and the first to feature a native-Indonesian cast. It is likely a lost film.
Sandiwara is a genre of traditional theatrical drama of Indonesia. In general, it refers to any kind of drama or theatrical performance, and literally, sandiwara means "to pretend" or "to act". However, the term is often used to describe a genre of traditional drama of West Java. Sandiwara Sunda is a type of sandiwara performed in Sundanese and presenting Sundanese themes, folklores and stories. It is quite similar to Javanese ketoprak or wayang orang.
King Siliwangi or Prabu Siliwangi was a semi-legendary king of the Hindu Sunda Kingdom in pre-Islamic West Java.
Kebonkopi II inscription or Pasir Muara inscription or Rakryan Juru Pangambat inscription is the oldest inscription that mentioned the toponymy Sunda dated from 854 Saka, discovered in Kebon Kopi village, Bogor, near Kebon Kopi I inscription, and named as such to differ it from this older inscription dated from Tarumanagara era.
The history of Sunda Kingdom spanned almost a millennium, between 7th to 16th century. It is not sure however, whether the Sunda Kingdom was actually a continuous polity or not, nor whether its rulers belongs to a single continuous lineage of dynasty or not. This is because the scarcity of evidences, historical records and archaeological findings that plausibly connected to this kingdom.
Old Sundanese is the earliest recorded stage of the Sundanese language which is spoken in the western part of Java, Indonesia. The evidence is recorded in inscriptions from around the 12th to 14th centuries and ancient palm-leaf manuscripts from the 15th to 17th centuries AD. Old Sundanese is no longer used today, but has developed into its descendant, modern Sundanese.
Buda script, Aksara Buda, or Gunung script is an archaic script. Based on its shape, the Buda Script still has a close relationship with the Kawi script. This script was previously used on the island of Java and Bali. This type of script is called the Buda script because it is considered to have originated from the pre-Islamic era which is called the Buddhist Age. The word Buda is based on the Buddha word. Manuscripts containing writing using the Buda script are commonly found in mountainous areas. Because of that, this type of script is also called the "Mountain script".
Sundanese language is a member of the Malayo-Polynesian language family which is part of the Austronesian language family, thus, Sundanese is one of the derivatives of Proto-Malayo-Polynesian reconstruction whose ancestor is Proto-Austronesian. The earliest evidence of the use of Sundanese in written form can be traced from the a collection of inscriptions found in the Kawali region, Ciamis which is thought to have been made in 14th century. Meanwhile, Sundanese in spoken form is believed by some to have been used long before the inscriptions were made.
