Mpu Dusun was a Javanese

Buddhist Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...

guru Guru ( sa, गुरु, IAST: ''guru;'' Pali'': garu'') is a Sanskrit term for a "mentor, guide, expert, or master" of certain knowledge or field. In pan-Indian traditions, a guru is more than a teacher: traditionally, the guru is a reverentia ...

and writer who lived in the later

Majapahit Majapahit ( jv, ꦩꦗꦥꦲꦶꦠ꧀; ), also known as Wilwatikta ( jv, ꦮꦶꦭ꧀ꦮꦠꦶꦏ꧀ꦠ; ), was a Javanese people, Javanese Hinduism, Hindu-Buddhism, Buddhist thalassocracy, thalassocratic empire in Southeast Asia that was ba ...

period, in the late 14th to early 15th century period.

Personal life

The name Mpu Dusun is a

pen name A pen name, also called a ''nom de plume'' or a literary double, is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen na ...

, his birth name is unknown. He is identified as Mpu Dusun in his work

Kakawin Kunjarakarna Kakawin are long narrative poems composed in Old Javanese, also called "'' Kawi''", written in verse form with rhythms and meters derived from Sanskrit literature. Poets used a formalized literary language, rather than the vernacular. Poets c ...

in the final stanza when he states "kīrti sira mpu Dusun" - this is a work of mpu Dusun. He is theorized to have come from a rural background, and did not spend much of his life in a court, unlike other poets of the time. He was a Buddhist monk or a priest, but much of his work was syncretic with the dominant Hinduism of the time.

Works

References

Indonesian writers Indonesian Buddhist monks Majapahit 14th-century writers Year of birth unknown Year of death unknown Indonesian Buddhists {{Indonesia-writer-stub