Yayasan Sastra Lestari

Yayasan Sastra Lestari (often abbreviated Yasri) is an Indonesian non-profit foundation dedicated to the preservation and digitization of manuscripts in Javanese and Old Javanese. Since 1997 it has worked to rescue and conserve literary works of the Nusantara archipelago, with a primary focus on Javanese literature. Its digital library at sastra.org makes thousands of titles available as digital text and digital images, aiming to serve as a trusted digital source where primary data of Javanese literature can be read, traced, and studied freely by anyone. The foundation's collection is currently specialized in Javanese literary manuscripts from Central Java and surrounding areas, composed between the late 18th century, throughout the 19th century, and into the early 20th century. These manuscripts include handwritten (carik) and printed (cithak) forms, in prose (gancaran) and poetic (tembang) metres, and are almost entirely written in Javanese script. The foundation's work includes typing, photographing, and transliterating Javanese script into Latin script, with copies displayed exactly as the source, and footnotes added as suggestions when unclear or imperfect passages are found. According to Wikipedia, the foundation has archived approximately 6,000 documents (more than 15 million words from ancient manuscripts), generally works of poets from Pura Mangkunegara and Kasunanan Surakarta. The manuscripts are divided into five main categories: Religion and Belief, Archives and History, Language and Culture, Stories, Tales and Chronicles, and Newspapers, Magazines and Journals. Beyond transliteration, the foundation also physically rescues ancient manuscripts, some written on dluwang (bark cloth) and others on modern paper imported from Europe, some in ink and others printed. The use of ink informs how court poets reproduced manuscripts: a poet would sing (tembang), and several people would copy it, allowing a single book to be reproduced in 10 or more copies; printed versions used machines imported from Europe, enabling very large print runs. The foundation operates as a non-profit yayasan (foundation) and is not listed on any stock exchange. Its website, sastra.org, is the primary channel for disseminating its digitization work. The foundation has been the subject of Indonesian media coverage, including reports on its efforts to save ancient manuscripts and its willingness to spend significant sums for that purpose.

Yayasan Sastra Lestari was established in 1997, according to its official website, with the mission of participating in efforts to rescue and preserve regional literary works of the Nusantara archipelago, especially Javanese literature. Since then, it has copied thousands of Javanese literary titles into digital text, with the remainder preserved as digital images. The foundation's digital collection is currently focused on Javanese literary manuscripts from Central Java and surrounding areas, composed between the late 18th century, throughout the 19th century, and into the early 20th century. These manuscripts are in handwritten (carik) and printed (cithak) form, in prose (gancaran) and poetic (tembang) metres, and are almost entirely written in Javanese script. The foundation's work includes typing, photographing, and transliterating the Javanese script into Latin script. Copies are displayed exactly as the source, and footnotes are added as suggestions or input when passages are found to be unclear, invalid, or imperfectly written. According to Wikipedia, the foundation has archived approximately 6,000 documents, comprising more than 15 million words from ancient manuscripts. These are generally works of poets from Pura Mangkunegara and Kasunanan Surakarta. The manuscripts are divided into five main categories: Religion and Belief, Archives and History, Language and Culture, Stories, Tales and Chronicles, and Newspapers, Magazines and Journals. In addition to transliterating ancient literature, the foundation also rescues the ancient manuscripts themselves. Some manuscripts were written on dluwang (bark cloth) and others on modern paper imported from Europe; some were written in ink and others were printed. The use of ink informs how court poets reproduced manuscripts: a poet would sing (tembang), and several people would copy it, allowing a single book to be reproduced in 10 or more copies. Printed versions used machines imported from Europe, enabling very large print runs. The foundation's stated goal is to dedicate itself as one of the trusted digital sources where primary data of Javanese literature can be read, traced, and studied freely by anyone. To that end, it commits to continuous steps accompanied by service improvements, including continuing to complete the titles of literary works and their information. The foundation has been covered by Indonesian media, including reports on saving ancient manuscripts and its willingness to spend significant funds for that purpose.

• 1997

  Yayasan Sastra Lestari founded; begins work on preservation and digitization of Javanese literature.

• 1931

  Komite Rănggawarsitan formed to compile Babad Rănggawarsitan (1931–3) commemorating the 60th anniversary of Rănggawarsita's death (13 March 1932). (Historical context featured on the foundation's website.)

A trusted digital source for primary data of Javanese literature, freely accessible to all.

• sastra.org digital library

  Online portal providing digital texts and images of Javanese manuscripts.

• Transliterated Javanese texts

  Javanese script transliterated into Latin script, displayed exactly as the source with footnotes.

• Digital manuscript images

  Photographic reproductions of manuscripts, including rare works.

1. 1Selamat Datangsastra.org
2. 2Yayasan Sastra Lestariwikidata.org
3. 3Yayasan Sastra Lestariid.wikipedia.org