ABSTRACT
The story of the foundation of Banyumas, a kabupaten 1 in the western part of the present-day province of Central Java, seems to be well known to the people of the area. In a variety of recensions it appears in written histories like the Babad Pasir and the Babad Banyumas. Ordinary people who have never heard of these written histories are familiar with at least fragments of the story. Modern recensions of the story, drawing on oral and written sources, have appeared in the mass media. 2 The story has been adopted as the basis of a brief, contemporary ‘official’ history of the kabupaten in publications of the kabupaten government, and is read out on certain ceremonial occasions.
