From qur'anic narrative to Javanese literary imagination: Cultural translation in serat ambiya

The circulation of sacred narratives across cultural boundaries involves not only textual transmission but also transformations through which narratives acquire new meanings within receiving cultures. This study examines the cultural translation of Qur’anic narratives in Serat Ambiya through the stories of the Prophets Nuh, Yusuf, Musa, Yunus, and Daud. Employing a qualitative approach, the study uses comparative textual analysis within the framework of comparative literature. Intertextual relations are examined through Julia Kristeva’s concept of intertextuality, while cultural transformations are interpreted through Doris Bachmann-Medick’s perspective on cultural translation. The findings reveal three interrelated mechanisms. First, cultural recontextualization occurs through narrative elaboration and the repositioning of prophetic narratives within Javanese cultural horizons. Second, cultural negotiation preserves Islamic ethical and spiritual orientations while articulating them through local systems of meaning. Third, cultural mediation operates through literary and visual representations, particularly wayang visual idioms, colors, clothing, gestures, and spatial representations that render prophetic figures intelligible within a Javanese aesthetic vocabulary. These mechanisms reveal a reciprocal process: Islamic narratives acquire Javanese articulation, while Javanese cultural repertoire is resemanticized to represent prophetic meanings. Thus, Serat Ambiya emerges as a site of meaning production that demonstrates the agency of Javanese literature in recreating narratives across cultural boundaries.