Rethinking Indian Influence in Javanese Shadow Theater Traditions

The author discusses how the aesthetics of Javanese shadow theater display important links to Sanskrit dramatic theory. Sears argues that Javanese poets and puppeteers played an active role in interpreting the rich philosophy of Sanskrit aesthetics, which reached its height in 10th- and 11th-century India. The adoption of Sanskritic aesthetics is not an indication of Javanese imitation of Indian models; rather, Javanese literati of that period were as sophisticated as their Indian colleagues and able to partake of an esoteric cultural tradition to which only a small percentage of Indic society had access.