ABSTRACT
In this study, we examine the Putru Kalĕpasan text, which is one of the religious texts in the Sastra-Ajar scriptorium in the Merapi-Merbabu manuscript. This text is compiled with four palm-leaf manuscripts, namely L 42, L 222, L 271, and L 322, in the manuscript collection of the National Library, Jakarta. The text contains detailed information on the procedures of the ritual Śrāddha, known at the Old Javanese era. Here, we apply the method of textual criticism to reveal the Putru Kalĕpasan texts. In addition, we apply religious and content analysis techniques to understand the expression of thoughts and images of the ancestor worship ritual called Hambukur ceremonies. The following conclusions are drawn from this study: (1) the expression of offerings in Putru Kalĕpasan is an ongoing Old Javanese religious thought passed on by the Sastra-Ajar tradition in the 16th century; (2) the slaughter of animals used for offerings symbolizes purification of the soul of daśamala stains. Thus, essentially, ruwatan in the Hambukur ritual is intended for the ordination of pitara to become Dewa Pitara (Sanskrit: Pitrideva), a sacred ancestral spirit who “becomes a god” and is considered to reach kalĕpasan, so that the sacred spirit of the ancestor can return to heaven.
