Kakawin

Kakawin are long narrative poems composed in Old Javanese, also called Kawi, written in verse form with rhythms and meters derived from Sanskrit literature, in a formalized literary language rather than the vernacular. Poets composed and performed kakawin at the courts of central and east Java kings between the ninth and sixteenth centuries, and in Bali; though the poems depict events and characters from Hindu mythology, their narratives are set in the local landscapes of the islands, making them rich sources of information about courtly society in Java and Bali.