Bali Hindu Priests

Kakawin is an Old Javanese courtly poetry-and-chant tradition whose metrics are adapted from Sanskrit kāvya prosody. Each stanza (pada) follows a strict pattern of long (guru) and short (laghu) syllables, and the poet selects one of many classical metres (vṛtta) such as śloka, indravajrā, or mandākrāntā. Although fundamentally a literary form, kakawin is also a vocal performance practice. In Java (historically) and especially in Bali today (as kekawin), texts are chanted in an ornate, melismatic style, sometimes unaccompanied and sometimes supported by a small gamelan, most commonly gender wayang. Themes are epic and didactic, drawing on the Ramayana and Mahabharata alongside local ethical, devotional, and royal subjects.