f remaining silent.

"No man can be called good or bad until his actions prove him
so.

"It is well known that a man cannot take the goods of this world
with him to the grave, and that man, after this life, is
punished with heaven or hell, according to the merits of his
actions in this life: a man's duty, therefore, requires him to
remember that he must die; and if he has been merciful and
liberal in this life to the poor, he will be rewarded
hereafter."

One and the same principle governs the composition of the mythological
and romantic literature of the Hindu epoch, and that of those somewhat
similar works in modern Javanese composed after the Mohammedan conquest.
The authors of both alike set one main object before them--to exalt the
reigning princes by identifying them with the heroes or princes of an
anterior epoch; only in the case of the Kavi poems, this anterior epoch
is fixed in the cloud-land of Hindu mythology, while after the
Mohammedan conquest it becomes merely the preceding era of the Hindu
supremacy in Java, which is used as a ladder by which the Hindu
cloud-land may be reached. But the nature of the _babads_, or
chronicles, the medium by which this object was subsequently effected,
and the interesting question of their historical value, are subjects
which I must reserve for the succeeding chapter.

CHAPTER XIV

WORKS OF THE MOHAMMEDAN PERIOD.

Uncertainty about the history of the Hindu kingdoms
given by the chronicles--Character of the _babad_,
or chronicle--Its historical value--Brumund's treatment
of the babads--Account of the babad "Mangku Nagara"--
Prose works--The Niti Praja--The Surya Ngalam--
Romances--The Johar Manikam--Dramatic works--The
Panjis--Wayang plays--Arabic works and influence--The
theatre--The wayang.

The works of the Mohammedan Javanese period include, in addition to
translations and versions of all kinds both from the Kavi literature and
the Arabic, romances, dramatic works, and plays, intended both for the
theatre and the wayang, ethical and legal compilations, and, lastly, the
_babads_, or chronicles. It will be convenient to consider these latter
first; but before doing so it is necessary to revert for a moment to the
historical account which I gave in my opening chapter. It will be
remembered that in that account the two Hindu kingdoms of Pajajaran and
Majapahit, respectively founded in the west and east of