id:Bhinneka Tunggal Ika

The motto of Indonesia is Bhinneka Tunggal Ika which is Old Javanese and is often loosely translated as 'Unity in Diversity' but literally it means '(Although) in pieces, yet One'.

This is a quotation from an Old Javanese poem written in Indian metres, the so called kakawin or kawya. This poem in question is kakawin Sutasoma, written by Mpu Prapañca during the reign of the Majapahit empire somewhere in the 14th century.

This poem is particular as it propagates the tolerance between Hindus (Shivaites) and Buddhists.

This quotation comes from canto 139, stanza 5. The full stanza reads as follows:

Rwâneka dhâtu winuwus Buddha Wiswa,

Bhinnêki rakwa ring apan kena parwanosen,

Mangka ng Jinatwa kalawan Siwatatwa tunggal,

Bhinnêka tunggal ika tan hana dharma mangrwa.

Translation:

• It is said that the well-known Buddha and Shiva are two different substances.
• They are indeed different, yet how is it possible to recognise their difference in a glance,
• since the truth of Jina (Buddha) and the truth of Shiva is one.
• They are indeed different, but they are of the same kind, as there is no duality in Truth.

This translation is based, with minor adapations, on the critical text edition by Dr. Soewito Santoso, Sutasoma, a Study in Old Javanese Wajrayana, 1975:578. New Delhi: International Academy of Indian Culture.