• 3 I transcribe Old Javanese and Middle Javanese according to the system proposed by Acri and Griffith (...)
• 4 Recently, Worsley (2012: 167) has suggested that rather than fiction, kakavins represented for anci (...)

1The main purpose of this contribution is to take a fresh look at the Old Javanese term lañciṅan and to discuss literary evidence on trousers as an item of dress in pre-Islamic Java. I explore the possibility that the Old Javanese term lañciṅan,3 commonly rendered “trousers,” may have originally denoted a type of loincloth used in the context of warfare. Furthermore, I propose to dissociate the introduction of trousers to Java from the cultural and religious influences of Islam, arguing that a bifurcated lower garment was first adopted in the military context, at the latest by the 14^th century CE. This contribution also aims to reopen discussion on the relevance of Old Javanese court poetry (kakavin) as a source of cultural history of premodern Java. Representing literary fiction, the relationship of Old Javanese kakavins to the realities of Javanese life has always been contentious.4 On the one hand, kakavins have been used as a rich source – at times, the only source – for a number of aspects of life in pre-Islamic Java (Ras 1976 ; Wisseman Christie 1993). On the other hand, some scholars have been inclined to dismiss this poetry as a viable source for history (Berg 1951, 1969). In what seems to be a current trend, scholars are admitting the value of kakavins as a rich source for the cultural history of premodern Java, though methodological problems are widely acknowledged (Supomo 2001 ; Creese 2004 ; Acri 2010 ; Worsley 2012). To extract historical evidence from kakavins, we need, as suggested recently by Worsley (2012 : 148), to ascertain “what is Indian in epic kakawin and what authentically Javanese and then query what is ‘fictional’ about them.” In my view, the use of Old Javanese literary representations of dress to draw conclusions about the pre-Islamic dress culture should follow, wherever possible, this research strategy. In what follows, I demonstrate that by investing high-status literary figures (in all cases represented in the context of warfare) with the lañciṅan, Javanese poets give us an important hint about the character of this premodern element of dress.

• 5 The same meaning of this word is attested also in Modern Sundanese. Eringa (1984: 444) renders Mode (...)

3Old Javanese lañciṅan is commonly translated “trousers ;” judging from lack of any comments on this term, it is considered unproblematic (Zoetmulder 1982 ; Teeuw and Robson 2005 :161 ; Worsley et al. 2013 : 151, 373). This attribution is apparently derived from the meaning of the word lancingan in Modern Javanese, where it indeed denotes (men’s) trousers (Robson and Singgih Wibisono 2002).5 The word is attested in the Bhomāntaka, a kakavin composed by an anonymous poet in the second half of the 12^th century CE (Teeuw and Robson 2005), and in the Sumanasāntaka, a kakavin composed around 1200 CE by Mpu Monaguṇa (Worsley et al. 2013). Apart from these two Old Javanese texts, the term lañciṅan is also known from a number of texts composed in Middle Javanese, such as the Raṅga Lave and Kiduṅ Sunda. The form of the word, interestingly, has remained unchanged for more than eight hundred years, a rare fact in the Javanese dress and textile lexicon. The attestation of the Javanese term for trousers in the literary texts composed at the Hindu-Buddhist courts of pre-Islamic Java has, to date, attracted no attention of textile historians, who generally associate the introduction of trousers to Indonesia with the process of Islamisation and its novel perception of the human body. Maxwell (2003 : 313), for one, claims that wherever Islam spread, men have adopted short pants, while women have accepted trousers as part of their daily dress only in Aceh and in some parts of Sumbawa. In the non-Islamic areas where trousers became part of dress, such as in the Toraja highlands, their introduction is ascribed to the cultural influence of Islamic clothing practices (Maxwell 2003 : 314).

• 6 For a discussion of yet another Javanese term for trousers, gaḍag, attested in the Śivarātrikalpa a (...)
• 7 Apart from the Kakavin Rāmāyaṇa, Old Javanese calana is found in a small number of kakavin composed (...)
• 8 Russell Jones (2007: 48) has also proposed to derive the Old Javanese term calana from Old Hindī, b (...)
• 9 Interestingly, in Hindī Śabdsāgar (III: 1489), a lexicon of Old and archaic Hindī word forms, we fi (...)
• 10 We may presume that calanas were among the items rewarded to warriors by Prahasta before the battle (...)
• 11 For a discussion of kirivili, see note 22.

4Beside lañciṅan, there is another Old Javanese term, calana, an early form of Modern Javanese clana, that is commonly interpreted as denoting “trousers.”6 Unlike lañciṅan, Old Javanese calana is a loanword. The term calana is a rare lexical item in Old Javanese, found only in two places in the Kakavin Rāmāyaṇa, an Old Javanese version of the Indian epic, and the earliest known specimen of the kakavin genre, datable according to current scholarly opinion to the 9^th century CE (Acri 2011 : xv).7 Gonda (1973 : 39), for one, derives calana, as well as related forms, such as Old Buginese cǝlana, from Hindī carṇā (“trousers reaching to the knees”).8 This author, however, nowhere mentions his source for the word carṇā, and in view of the fact that the earliest textual attestation of Old Hindī postdates by several centuries the composition of the Kakavin Rāmāyaṇa, Gonda’s attribution must remain speculative.9 To reassess the meaning of Old Javanese calana in the Kakavin Rāmāyaṇa, it is necessary to analyse the literary context of the pertinent passages. In the first occurrence of this term, found in stanza 21.201, calana denotes an element of battle dress worn by the soldiers of Rāvaṇa’s general Prahasta.10 It is mentioned alongside kirivili, an enigmatic element of dress, usually rendered as “sash, belt.”11 The identification of calana in this passage, however, remains tentative ; the term may denote either a variety of trousers, or some form of unstitched lower garment. The rendering of calana as “trousers” is further complicated by the second occurrence of this term, found in stanza 25.78, where it refers to an element of dress worn by young women. Hooykaas, for one, renders calana in stanza 25.78 as “pantaloons” (1958 : 375). Yet, the context of the passage in which calana is found clearly suggests that the garment depicted here represents in fact an element of women’s underwear. First, let me quote Hooykaas’s translation of the stanza that depicts young girls amusing themselves at the bank of the river Sarayū :

• 12 Interestingly, Soewito Santoso (1975: 274) has rendered Old Javanese word patələsan, a single piece (...)
• 13 See Kakavin Rāmāyaṇa 25.80-82.
• 14 For a recent study in which Old Javanese literary and inscriptional material is discussed alongside (...)

5We may imagine that the girls, wishing to carry away as many blossoms as they could handle, tucked up their skirt-like dresses (kain) to accommodate the campaka blossoms. Apparently, the kain was short, so that the lower part of the body, typically covered by some kind of underwear as the text seems to suggest, became visible.12 This sight of the girls, naked waist down, made an impression on the young men, who were peeping from behind the trees at the bank of the river, as we gather from a couple of following stanzas.13 I suggest, contrary to Hooykaas (1958), that the evidence we have is not detailed enough to claim that in the 9^th century CE the Old Javanese term calana denoted trousers, a form of stitched bifurcated lower garment. Furthermore, the fact that apart from the Kakavin Rāmāyaṇa the term calana is unattested in other kakavins authored on Java further emphasizes the specificity of the language environment in which the Kakavin Rāmāyaṇa, the single kakavin known from the Central Javanese period (732-928 CE), was composed. Old Javanese calana may thus represent a loanword from Old Malay, or another Nusantaran language. It may be of etymological relevance that among the four words used to denote one or other form of trousers in Modern Javanese (clana, kaṭok, lancingan, sruwal), it is only clana that refers specifically to long, ankle-length trousers rather than to short, knee-length trousers as do the other three terms. Aichele (1943) has pointed to a number of Malay loanwords found in the Kakavin Rāmāyaṇa, but since Aichele’s pioneering study the subject of Old Javanese-Old Malay lexical exchange has remained little studied.14

• 15 Pigeaud (1989: 231).
• 16 Jansz (1913: 352), for one, defines the word lancingan as a Krama Inggil version of kaṭok and sruwa (...)
• 17 To the best of my knowledge, the term lañciṅan is not attested in (published) Old Javanese inscript (...)

6The finding that Old Javanese calana in Kakavin Rāmāyaṇa 25.78 probably does not denote trousers but rather a simple, most likely unstitched, element of women’s underwear, should make us suspicious about the exact meaning of Old Javanese lañciṅan. Although in contemporary Javanese lancingan denotes men’s knee-length trousers, as recently as in 1938 Pigeaud still knew about two other meanings of this word : “loincloth” (Dutch : lendendoek), and “underpants” (Dutch : onderbroek).15 Apparently, in the 1930s the word lancingan still carried three different meanings, used for three distinct kinds of lower garment, even though other dictionaries of Modern Javanese, such as Jansz (1913), list under lancingan only the meaning “trousers.”16 In view of this fact, it is not unreasonable to presume that the same semantic flexibility pertained as well to the use of the Old Javanese form lañciṅan. Even though Teeuw and Robson (2005 : 160) render lañciṅan as “soldier’s trousers,” all we can say with certainty is that in Old Javanese kakavins the word denotes a form of warrior’s lower garment, an element of battle dress.17

• 18 In his Old Javanese-English dictionary, Zoetmulder (1982: 1784) reconstructs the appearance of a si (...)
• 19 Some of the earliest of these representations are found at Borobudur and Prambanan (8^th‑9^th centuri (...)

7Before I discuss in detail the attestations of lañciṅan in kakavins, let me briefly summarize current knowledge of what soldiers wore on the lower torso of the body. In spite of extensive descriptions of warfare in the Old Javanese literature, we have only a very rudimentary knowledge of the dress of Javanese soldiers and their military leaders. From a number of kakavins we infer that various protective elements of battle dress, such as scaled jackets (sipiṅ-sipiṅ) and helmets (rukuh), were used.18 We hear, however, almost nothing about the elements of the dress soldiers wore to cover and protect the lower torso of the body ; the Old Javanese literary record is surprisingly silent on this issue. On the other hand, there are a number of visual representations of battle dress on the reliefs of Javanese religious monuments. While most of the reliefs depict warriors wearing a short, skirt-like lower garment, some depictions show them dressed in a loincloth.19

• 20 The loincloth, however, did not always prevent the genitals from being exposed: in a vigorous comba (...)

8Consisting in its simplest variety of a long and narrow strip of cloth which is passed between the legs and then around the waist, the main purpose of the loincloth is to cover the male genitals.20 Although the loincloth was culturally important in many parts of premodern Indonesia, relatively little attention has been paid to its history. Apart from its humble variety, there was also an elaborate one, used mostly at festive occasions, with patterned ends that hang down front and back (Nooy-Palm 1969 : 169 ; Steinmayer 1991). The loincloth represents an ancient form of clothing ; Maxwell (2003 : 40) observes that the patterns on the end sections of loincloths produced during the last century often resemble those on some of the earliest stone statues found in the region. During the last one hundred years the loincloth has disappeared not only from Java, but also from many other parts of Southeast Asia (Steinmayer 1991). Interestingly, in some modern societies the use of the loincloth has survived but its function has been changed. Maxwell (2003 : 40), for one, reports that heirloom Toraja loincloths (pio) are nowadays used mainly as ceremonial banners, and in Bali loincloths may be used as shawls around the necks of male participants in the context of ritual.

• 21 Teeuw and Robson (2005: 606) suggest tentatively that the obscure term kañcur, attested only in Bho (...)
• 22 For a man ploughing with a team of oxen, see Nou & Frédéric (1996: 69). For porters, see Miksic et (...)
• 23 It is tempting to speculate that the enigmatic Old Javanese word kirivili denotes the (decorated) f (...)

9The history of the loincloth in Java, one of the islands most intensely exposed to cultural and religious influences of India, remains only poorly documented. Yet, literary and visual evidence suggest that the loincloth represented a common element of Javanese premodern dress. By the early 20^th century CE, however, the loincloth had disappeared from all but the most isolated parts of Java ; according to Carey (2008 : 46), it continued to be used only by impoverished mountain dwellers in remote districts of hill regions. Even though the study of the history of Javanese dress is still in its infancy, and we have only a very limited knowledge of the dress culture in Hindu-Buddhist Java (Barnes et al. 2010), we may presume that the loincloth represented an important article of men’s, and probably children’s, dress.21 Visual representations from pre-Islamic Java suggest that the loincloth was the main element of daily dress of farmers, porters, craftsmen, and ambulant traders.22 In fact, there is no other type of premodern garment more suitable for vigorous physical activities, such as hunting, fishing, hand-to-hand combat, and wrestling, than the loincloth. The Indian kaupīna (Alter 1992), and the Japanese mawashi worn by the sumo wrestlers, are probably the best known examples of the continued popularity of the loincloth in the martial context. In the past, it is in the context of warfare that we encounter the most elaborate variety of loincloth in Java. In the reliefs depicting the Kṛṣṇāyana on the main temple of Panataran (14^th century CE), some warriors use a very elaborate variety of the loincloth (Klokke 2000 : 26-28). The clearly visible front end hangs down, forming an apron. The fashion of wearing a long and billowing apron (and tail) to one’s loincloth is attested from ethnographic evidence and may have been rooted in apotropaic qualities ascribed to the front and tail of the loincloth (Steinmayer 1991).23 Bhīma, a literary character representing a model of powerful but unrefined warrior, is depicted in a number of statues dated to the 14-15^th centuries CE, wearing an elaborate loincloth (Duijker 2010 : 43-44). The loincloth used in the martial context is known also from other parts of ancient Southeast Asia : some soldiers depicted on Angkor temple reliefs wear what Green calls “hipcloth,” a loincloth with prominent ends hanging down loosely (2000 : 283).

• 24 Zoetmulder (1982: 929), for one, renders Old Javanese kupina: “the pudenda; a small piece of cloth (...)
• 25 It is attested in Old Javanese, as well as Middle Javanese texts. See, for example, Pārthayajña 12. (...)
• 26 From several detailed representations of ascetic’s loincloth in Javanese statuary we may presume th (...)
• 27 The term is attested in at least two inscriptions: in the Tuhanaru inscription (VIIIb, II.4), dated (...)
• 28 Compare, however, an interesting possible parallel in a passage in Smaradahana 26.9, where the term (...)
• 29 Zoetmulder (1982: 317) renders cavәt “short loin-cloth.”

10We must admit that Javanese premodern evidence on trousers and the loincloth represents a paradox : though the loincloth is depicted on a number of reliefs and statues spanning the period between the 8^th and 16^th centuries CE, there is, to the best of my knowledge, no explicit visual representation of trousers in Hindu-Javanese art. Furthermore, while it is presumed that Old Javanese term lañciṅan denotes trousers, the actual Old Javanese name of the loincloth remains unclear. The term kupina, which represents a loanword from Sanskrit, is attested specifically in the religious context where it refers to a type of loincloth used by ascetics as part of their garb.24 Made typically, if not exclusively, from bark-cloth, the kupina became one of the symbols of hermits and ascetics in Old Javanese literature, along with a vessel made of a gourd.25 The ascetic’s loincloth is also represented on a number of narrative reliefs and statuary from the Hindu-Buddhist period.26 It is possible, however, that cavət, a term known from at least two Old Javanese inscriptions and from a number of texts composed in Middle Javanese, has denoted specifically the loincloth.27 The same word is still used to denote the loincloth in Modern Javanese (Pigeaud 1989 : 576). The single Old Javanese attestation of the word cavət known to me is found in Bhomāntaka 81.41, in a difficult passage full of erotic overtones, where, however, it seems to refer to some kind of (talking ?) bird, rather than to a type of garment.28 Teeuw and Robson (2005 : 445), editors of the Bhomāntaka, leave cavət in stanza 81.41 untranslated.29

• 30 See Damais (1958: 55-57); Robson (1979).
• 31 See Koravāśrama 132.8.

11I offer the hypothesis that along with the kupina (ascetic’s loincloth), and cavət (known with certainty only from Middle Javanese texts), Old Javanese lañciṅan may have originally denoted the loincloth. By the 14^th century CE, at the latest, the term was applied also on the trousers, while cavət denoted exclusively the loincloth. This proposal is supported by the finding that the terms cavət and lañciṅan occur side by side in the military context of a few Middle Javanese texts that may be plausibly dated to the 14^th century CE (Raṅga Lave and Kiduṅ Sunda).30 Furthermore, the term palalañciṅan, attested in the Middle Javanese Koravāśrama, explicitly denotes the “waist”, and points thus to the identity of the lañciṅan as a piece of cloth wrapped around the waist, hence not a form of trousers.31

• 36 To demonstrate this claim, let me give three examples from the Arjunavivāha, a kakavin composed by (...)

14The passage illustrates how items of dress mark military leaders in Old Javanese literature : like the lañciṅan, the kəmul cloak is nowhere represented as an element of battle dress worn by rank and file soldiers. But contrary to the lañciṅan, the kəmul is described in Old Javanese literature in remarkable detail. By no means limited to the military context, the kəmul is depicted as an item of dress that is imbued with particularly strong apotropaic powers. In fact, in a number of passages the kәmul is represented as a “cloak of invisibility,” protecting those who wish to remain unrecognized.36 We may presume that the lañciṅan and the kәmul worn by Aja in the Sumanasāntaka represent a literary reflection of a premodern belief that dress used in the context of warfare should be imbued with particularly strong apotropaic properties.

• 37 For the cavәt loincloth made from griṅsiṅ, see Raṅga Lave 1.57 (vineh cavәt griṅsiṅ).
• 38 For a different opinion, see Hooykaas (1978: 357), who suggests that the gringsing textile patterns (...)
• 39 See, for example, Kiduṅ Sunda 5.81b alañciṅan griṅsiṅ ramayana; Kiduṅ Sunda 5.85a alañciṅan griṅsiṅ (...)

15This finding is further supported by the fact that in a number of Middle Javanese texts the lañciṅan, as well as the cavәt, are represented as made from griṅsiṅ, a textile that has been viewed in Java and Bali as magically potent.37 The term is plausibly first mentioned in the Deśavarṇana, an Old Javanese kakavin composed by Mpu Prapañca in 1365 CE, where it denotes a fabric from which the curtains of a box of the royal carriage of Hayam Vuruk were fashioned (Robson 1995 : 38). Even though textile scholars differ in their opinion on the character of Old Javanese (and Middle Javanese) griṅsiṅ, it is widely accepted that griṅsiṅ cloth was valued for its apotropaic qualities (Nabholz-Kartaschoff 1999).38 Made now only in Tenganan in Bali, Modern Balinese griṅsiṅ denotes textiles produced by the complex double ikat technique. All stages of the production are constrained by a number of rules to ensure the ritual purity and magical potency of the finished product (Hauser-Schäublin et al. 1991). While the antiquity of the Balinese production of griṅsiṅ remains unknown, the specimens known from ethnographic collections display influence of Indian patola double ikat silks produced in Gujarat (Bühler 1959 ; Bühler and Fisher 1979 ; Guy 2009 : 13). Wisseman Christie (1993 : 194), for one, claims that Old Javanese griṅsiṅ therefore denotes also cloth made by the double ikat technique, and that the numerous named griṅsiṅ patterns, known mostly from Middle Javanese literature, refer to the “wayang scenes” depicted on the textiles.39 Based on his reading of Deśavarṇana 17.4, Hall (2000 : 74) has suggested that due to the belief in magical properties of griṅsiṅ, the Majapahit court adopted this textile (Hall uses the term “pattern”) as the royal symbol.

• 40 Raṅga Lave 10.22.

16A number of Middle Javanese texts support the view that there was a close association between the king, his personal military retinue, and the griṅsiṅ cloth that was vested (in the form of lañciṅan and cavәt) to the men who proved themselves in battle. The Pararaton, a Middle Javanese historical text composed sometime in the late 15^th or early 16^th century CE, informs us that after the defeat of Singasari by Kediri in 1293 CE, Raden Vijaya rewarded his soldiers with lañciṅan made from griṅsiṅ cloth (Brandes 1920). The Raṅga Lave, a Middle Javanese text composed probably in the 14^th century CE (Robson 1979), refers to the lañciṅan made from griṅsiṅ cloth, awarded by the king to the soldiers fighting for him.40 In this context, the claim by Maxwell (2003 : 314) that in the court circles in Central Java ceremonial trousers were until recently made from imported Indian double ikat patola textiles, gains particular interest.

• 43 For the ambiguity of Modern Javanese kaṭok, see Pigeaud (1989: 172), who lists it, apart from being (...)

18To summarize our findings so far, the passages in the Sumanasāntaka and Bhomāntaka represent the lañciṅan as part of a warrior’s dress, and a symbol of military leadership. At the same time, the lañciṅan is associated with apotropaic power. There is, however, no evidence that the Old Javanese lañciṅan in these passages denotes specifically a form of trousers, rather than an elaborate variety of loincloth. This remarkable ambiguity of the lañciṅan pertains also to other word forms used in Javanese to denote a bifurcated lower garment, such as Old Javanese calana and Modern Javanese kaṭok.43 The semantic shift in Modern Javanese words clana, kaṭok, and lancingan, from the non-stitched forms of lower garment to stitched trousers, has been, most probably, very slow and gradual.

• 44 Improved knowledge of horses is attested by a number of passages in the Bhāratayuddha, a kakavin co (...)

20Horses were never common in premodern Java. Introduced probably from mainland Southeast Asia at an unknown date, the Javanese breed was traditionally represented by stout, small, and short-legged, dun-coloured horses (Wade 2009 : 165). Used mainly in hunt and in the context of royal pomp, the military use of horses before the 12^th century CE is a shadowy issue. Boomgaard (2007 : 40) observes that in premodern Java only men of noble origin could have afforded to keep, train and use horses. As a result of these social and cultural constraints, early Javanese cavalry was almost certainly composed exclusively of members of gentry. The available evidence, difficult to interpret, suggest that until the 12^th century CE horses were employed as mounts on which noble warriors rode to battle where they dismounted to fight as infantry (Charney 2004). Far from being rare, the phenomenon of “mounted infantry” is attested from many parts of the premodern world (Sidnell 2006 : 90). Since the 12^th century CE, however, we have increasing evidence suggesting that horses became more common as riding animals.44 The first true cavalry, an organized unit of cooperative horse-riders, may have appeared in Java during the 12^th century CE, similar to the historical trends documented for this period from Campā and Cambodia (Wade 2009). In several kakavins composed during the 12^th century CE we encounter descriptions, presented mostly in the form of literary metaphors, in which horse-riders operate as cavalry rather than as uncoordinated individuals. Recently, Teeuw and Robson (2005 : 436) have called attention to the special value of the Bhomāntaka for the study of early Javanese horse lore and horsemanship. In the 14^th century CE, Java became an important breeder of horses and the island is even listed among suppliers of horses to China (Ptak 1999 : 208). During the Majapahit period (1293-1520s CE), horse numbers and quality of Javanese breeds steadily grew so that in 1515 CE Tomé Pires, usually a reliable witness, praised the richly caparisoned horses of the Javanese gentry, equipped with stirrups inlaid with gold and lavishly decorated saddles, such as were “not found anywhere else in the world” (Cortesão 1944 : 175).

• 45 The precise dating of the Śivarātrikalpa remains, however, contested. Teeuw et al. (1969: 65) have (...)

21It is in this historical context that we should try to understand the introduction of trousers in the Javanese dress. Neither the loincloth, nor any skirt-like garment, would have been suitable for horse-riding. Trousers, on the other hand, cover the underbody and the legs against bruising by two connected trouser-legs. While we lack direct evidence, trousers, related to mounted warfare and greater mobility, may have been introduced as an element of Javanese battle dress sometime during the 12^th century CE, as part of a complex process of the elaboration of horse-riding techniques and specialized equipment, such as improved horse saddles. As we have seen, in the 14^th century CE, Javanese authors already distinguished between cavәt, the loincloth, and lañciṅan, trousers. Further evidence that trousers were first introduced, and used, in the context of warfare, is the attestation of the word gaḍag, an early form of Modern Javanese kaṭok, in the Śivarātrikalpa, a kakavin composed in or around the third quarter of the 15^th century CE (Teeuw et al. 1969 : 65 ; Zoetmulder 1974 : 365).45 In a humorous scene, Mpu Tanakuṅ, the author of the text, explores the distinction between soldier’s (male) trousers and woman’s lower garment when he describes slain soldiers of Yama, revived by Śiva :

• 48 See note 41 above. When we consider that still in 1930s the word kaṭok referred, apart from trouser (...)

22Apparently, bewildered soldiers mistook their comrades, dressed in trousers (gaḍag), for their own wives or lovers. While this image may be classed as a cliché in Old Javanese battle depictions, the opposition between trousers, represented here as a typical element of soldier’s dress, and an unspecified article of woman’s lower dress, is innovative.48 In fact, the image proves beyond any doubt that gaḍag, used in the martial context, denoted by the 15^th century trousers, not the loincloth. Apart from the Śivarātrikalpa, the word gaḍag is found, again in the military context, in the Middle Javanese Pararaton : Tohjaya, one of the rulers of the Singhasari kingdom (1222-1292 CE), wounded in his back by a spear, is carried away (pinikul) from the royal residence under siege of enemies by one of his personal guards who wears a gaḍag. The Pararaton, generally a reliable source, would thus suggest that trousers were known in Java by the early 13^th century CE. Conspicuously, the earliest depictions of trousers in Khmer art are known from the war scenes found on the reliefs of the Bayon and Banteay Chmar monuments, dating to the 12^th century CE. Jacq-Hergoualc’h (2007 : 106) observes that the men depicted wearing short trousers represent Cham soldiers.

• 49 For covering and uncovering the chest in premodern Java, see Kees van Dijk (1997: 49).
• 50 This view is, however, not entirely correct. Most items of female and male dress typically associat (...)

23According to the traditional view, the bifurcated lower garment was introduced to Java only during the process of Islamisation. Scholars have long recognized that one of the consequences of the introduction of Islam has been a novel perception of the human body and accompanying changes in the way people dressed (Reid 1988). Ma Huan, writing in 1433 CE, reported that by that time Javanese men living in the port cities on the northern coast of Java, in the area most exposed to Islamic influences, adopted dress covering the upper part of the body, typically left uncovered in Hindu-Buddhist Java (Mills 1970).49 As part of this re-configuration of dress, according to traditional scholarship, Javanese Muslims, both men and women, slowly adopted elements of tailored clothing, such as jackets and trousers.50 In fact, trousers are typically seen as one of the signs of the acceptance of new norms (Maxwell 2003 : 313).
I have tried to demonstrate that the way in which trousers were perceived and incorporated by Javanese may not necessarily have reflected the ideas of a new morality, but may rather have involved the investment of existing indigenous preoccupations into new forms of dress : Old Javanese and Middle Javanese texts suggest that the lañciṅan retained some of the apotropaic properties associated with battle dress in premodern Java.