Johann Friedrich Carl Gericke (1798–1857) as a Pioneer of Academic Javanology: Early Years of His Activities (1827–1837)

Abstract

The present article is a sequel of a series of articles on history of Javanology based on biographies of its most prominent personalities. The article dwells on J.F.C. Gericke, who being a scholar, teacher and administrator played an exceptionally important role at an early stage of Java academic studies. If we name Baptist pastor Gottlob Brückner (1783–1857) (who is the first translator of the New Testament into Javanese and author of the first Javanese grammar book) a founding father of Java studies, then J. Gericke may be considered as belonging to the second generation of scholars engaged in the Java studies: he was fifteen years younger than G. Brückner, he arrived at Java later than G. Brückner, his works were also published later. While G. Brückner, being a priest, had no ties with academic environment, J. Gericke did a lot for its establishment, both as a scholar and as an administrator. J. Gericke contributed a lot to the development of Javanology in its infancy. Starting from the very beginning J. Gericke proved to be a practicing Orientalist (he established contacts with the Java nobility while performing a task entrusted by the government), an administrator in the academic field (he was one of the founders of the Institute for the Javanese Language), a teacher, a linguist (he compiled a practical grammar book and the first Great Javanese-Netherlands Dictionary) and also an illuminator of the Javanese people (he translated the Bible and adapted the Bible stories).