Liquor in Glass Vessels: A Note on Glassware in pre-Islamic Java and on its Socio-Religious Symbolism
Textual evidence on glassware in Old Javanese kakavin poetry is discussed. Export of Middle Eastern and Chinese glass vessels to ancient Southeast Asia is documented in the archaeological and historical record, though – compared to the Malay Peninsula and Sumatra – reported finds of glass vessels an...
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| Vydáno v: | URI:https://journals.openedition.org/archipel, |
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| Hlavní autor: | |
| Médium: | Article ou chapitre numérique |
| Jazyk: | Anglais |
| Vydáno: |
Archipel
2017
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| On-line přístup: | Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM |
| Shrnutí: | Textual evidence on glassware in Old Javanese kakavin poetry is discussed. Export of Middle Eastern and Chinese glass vessels to ancient Southeast Asia is documented in the archaeological and historical record, though – compared to the Malay Peninsula and Sumatra – reported finds of glass vessels and their fragments in Java are very limited. Old Javanese kakavins suggest that imported glass vessels, denoted by the term gәḍah, were associated in court circles with the socio-religious framework of Siddha alchemy, and viewed as ritually powerful containers, used to store and serve alcoholic beverages, in particular those with high alcohol content, such as the drinks based on fermented, and probably aged, sugarcane juice. The glass cup metonymically represented the liquid which it contained, and it shares a metaphoric association with sanctified copulation perceived as a ritual act that belongs to Siddha Tantrism. The ultimate origin of the Old Javanese gәḍah is most probably the Arabic term qadah, one of the very early Arabic loanwords in Javanese. |
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