4 - Bhutasamkhya, Candrabhumi, and their Commentaries

Javanese people nowadays refer to the bhutasamkhya system as sengkala. The bhutasamkhya system is essentially a system for symbolising numerals that refers to material elements (bhūta) that are associated with sums or calculations (saṃkhyā). The use of this numeration system spread to areas in Southeast Asia, such as in the Khmer realm, Champa, and Java. In the Old Javanese tradition, there is a kakawin work that codifies numeration within the bhutasamkhya system. The kakawin is untitled and anonymous, but is frequently referred to as the Candrabhumi. Fundamentally, the vocabulary of the Candrabhumi is sufficiently clear: each word represents a particular number, but there is no explanation of why this is the case. This deficiency was subsequently addressed by exegetical texts (one of the best known being the Katrangan Candrasengkala by R. Bratakesawa 1928). However, these exegeses basically tend towards lexicographical explanations, that are brief, concise, and reiterate what has already been expressed in the Candrabhumi itself. The focus of this paper is the epistemological frame behind the various exegetical commentaries on the Candrabhumi text. The sources used are (i) a manuscript in Buda script, National Library of Indonsia 28 L 216, originating from the Merapi-Merbabu tradition, and (ii) a manuscript in the Kirtya No. 603/IIIc/8, from the Balinese tradition. Grounded in an etic perspective on understanding each word in the Candrabhumi, it will become clear how the system produces an emic construction out of this exegesis.