The Dutch Nagara-Kertagama translation on which Professor Kern worked,
at intervals, during eleven years, deserves our utmost admir- ation and
respect. It is the last important piece of work he finished before his
death. It has enriched in an extraordinarily high degree our knowledge
of the history and antiquities of the Majapahit period. Moreover, its
dignified and courtly style established the reputation of Old Javanese
letters as a literature of considerable interest. The con- tents of the
Nagara-Kertiigama, as interpreted by Professor Kern, gave 14th century
Majapahit a nimbus, making it appear to the uncritical public as a most
powerful and highly cultured Empire, organized on 18th or 19th century
West-European lines. The notes of Krom, Poerbatjaraka and others do not
contain com- plete translations of the texts. These scholars made
valuable contribu- tions to a better understanding of several passages.
They did not make it easy for the general reader to consult their notes,
though. Professor Kern's appreciation of the contents of the
Nagara-Kertagama remained fundamentally unshaken. Up to the present time
Professor Kern's Nagara-Kertagama trans- lation has been generally used
and highly appreciated by students of Indonesian cultures and by the
public interested in Old Javanese his- tory, both in Indonesia and
elsewhere. In 1953 a modern Malay trans- lation by Slametmuljana was
published in Djakarta (Negarakretagama, diperbaharui kedalam bahasa
Indonesia). But then, since Professor Kern's days research has made
progress. It is clear, nowadays, that his translation has the defects of
its good qualities.