''Bhinneka Tunggal Ika'' is the official

national motto This article lists state and national mottos for the world's nations. The mottos for some states lacking general international recognition, extinct states, non-sovereign nations, regions, and territories are listed, but their names are not bold ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

, inscribed in the

National emblem of Indonesia The national emblem or coat of arms of Indonesia is called ''Garuda Pancasila''. The main part is the Garuda with a heraldic shield on its chest and a scroll gripped by its legs. The shield's five emblems represent '' Pancasila'', the five pri ...

, the Garuda Pancasila, written on the scroll gripped by the

Garuda Garuda (Sanskrit: ; Pāli: ; Vedic Sanskrit: गरुळ Garuḷa) is a Hindu demigod and divine creature mentioned in the Hindu, Buddhist and Jain faiths. He is primarily depicted as the mount (''vahana'') of the Hindu god Vishnu. Garuda ...

's claws. The phrase comes from the

Old Javanese Old Javanese or Kawi is the oldest attested phase of the Javanese language. It was spoken in the eastern part of what is now Central Java and the whole of East Java, Indonesia. As a literary language, Kawi was used across Java and on the island ...

, translated to as "

Unity in Diversity Unity in diversity is used as an expression of harmony and unity between dissimilar individuals or groups. It is a concept of "unity without uniformity and diversity without fragmentation" that shifts focus from unity based on a mere tolerance ...

." The phrase is also mentioned in the Constitution of Indonesia, specifically in article 36A. The motto refers to the unity and integrity of Indonesia, a nation consisting of various cultures, regional languages, races, ethnicities, religions, and beliefs. The phrase is a quotation from an Old Javanese poem

Kakawin Sutasoma ''Kakawin Sutasoma'' is an Old Javanese poem in poetic meters ('' kakawin'' or '' kavya''). It is the source of the motto of Indonesia, '' Bhinneka Tunggal Ika'', which is usually translated as ''Unity in Diversity'', although literally it m ...

, written by

Mpu Tantular Mpu Tantular (c. 14th century) was a famous Javanese poet of Javanese literature who lived in the 14th century, during the reign of king Hayam Wuruk. Tantular was a Buddhist, and was respectful to other religions. This can be seen in two items of k ...

, a famous

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems ( oral or wri ...

Javanese Literature Javanese literature is, generally speaking, literature from Java and, more specifically, from areas where Javanese is spoken. However, similar with other literary traditions, Javanese language works were and not necessarily produced only in Java, ...

during the reign of the Majapahit empire sometime in the 14th century, under the reign of King Rājasanagara, also known as

Hayam Wuruk Hayam Wuruk (Sanskrit: हयम् वुरुक्, Kawi: ꦲꦪꦩ꧀ꦮꦸꦫꦸꦏ꧀) (1334–1389), also called Rajasanagara, Pa-ta-na-pa-na-wu, or Bhatara Prabhu after 1350, was a Javanese Hindu emperor from the Rajasa Dynasty and th ...

Meaning

Translated word for word, ''bhinnêka'' is a

sandhi Sandhi ( sa, सन्धि ' , "joining") is a cover term for a wide variety of sound changes that occur at morpheme or word boundaries. Examples include fusion of sounds across word boundaries and the alteration of one sound depending on near ...

form of ''bhinna'' "different" and ''ika''; the word ''tunggal'' means "one", the word ''ika'' means "it". Literally, Bhinneka Tunggal Ika is translated as "It is different, etit is one". Conventionally, the phrase is translated as "Unity in Diversity", which means that despite being diverse, the Indonesian people are still one unit. This motto is used to describe the unity and integrity of the Nation and the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia which consists of various cultures, regional languages, races, ethnicities, religions, and beliefs. As head of the

Faculty of Philosophy A faculty is a division within a university or college comprising one subject area or a group of related subject areas, possibly also delimited by level (e.g. undergraduate). In American usage such divisions are generally referred to as colleges ...

Gadjah Mada University Gadjah Mada University ( jv, ꦈꦤꦶꦥ꦳ꦼꦂꦱꦶꦠꦱ꧀ꦓꦗꦃꦩꦢ; id, Universitas Gadjah Mada, abbreviated as UGM) is a Public university, public research university located in Sleman Regency, Sleman, Yogyakarta (special region) ...

Rizal Mustansyir Rizal, officially the Province of Rizal ( fil, Lalawigan ng Rizal), is a province in the Philippines located in the Calabarzon region in Luzon. Its capital is the city of Antipolo. It is about east of Manila. The province is named after José R ...

, writes, "the motto of Bhinneka Tunggal Ika explains clearly that there is diversity in various aspects of life that makes the Indonesian nation a unified and unified nation."

History

Origins

The phrase originated from the Old Javanese poem Kakawin Sutasoma, written by Mpu Tantular, a famous poet of Javanese Literature during the reign of the Majapahit empire sometime in the 14th century, under the reign of King Rājasanagara, also known as Hayam Wuruk. The

Kakawin 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 ...

contains epic poems written in

metres The metre (British spelling Despite the various English dialects spoken from country to country and within different regions of the same country, there are only slight regional variations in English orthography, the two most notable va ...

. The poem is notable as it promotes tolerance between

Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...

s (especially Shivaites) and

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 ...

Adoption

The phrase Bhinneka Tunggal Ika was published in an article entitled ''Verspreide Geschriften'' which was written by a Dutch linguist orientalist Johan Hendrik Casper Kern. Kern's writings were later read by Mohammad Yamin, who then brought the phrase to the first

Investigating Committee for Preparatory Work for Independence The Investigating Committee for Preparatory Work for Independence ( id, Badan Penyelidik Usaha-usaha Persiapan Kemerdekaan, BPUPK; ja, 独立準備調査会, Hepburn: , Nihon-shiki / Kunrei-shiki: ), sometimes referred to as the Investigating Co ...

(BPUPK) session, between 29 May to 1 June 1945. The motto Bhinneka Tunggal Ika was later incorporated into the state emblem, the Garuda Pancasila. Reporting from the Directorate General of Culture of the Republic of Indonesia, the state symbol was designed by Sultan Hamid II and announced to the public on 15 February 1950. The phrase, along with Pancasila as national emblem and 20 other articles, is officially included into the Constitution of Indonesia after the second amendment of the constitution was ratified on People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) parliamentary session in 7–18 August 2000.

Full stanza

Original

This quotation comes from canto 139, stanza 5. The full stanza reads as follows:

''Rwâneka dhâtu winuwus Buddha Wiswa,'' ''Bhinnêki rakwa ring apan kena parwanosen,'' ''Mangka ng Jinatwa kalawan Siwatatwa tunggal,'' ''Bhinnêka tunggal ika tan hana dharma mangrwa.''

Translation

It is said that the well-known Buddha and Shiva are two different substances. They are indeed different, yet how is it possible to recognise their difference in a glance, since the truth of Jina (
Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha, was a wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist tradition, he was born in L ...
) and the truth of
Shiva Shiva (; sa, शिव, lit=The Auspicious One, Śiva ), also known as Mahadeva (; ɐɦaːd̪eːʋɐ, or Hara, is one of the principal deities of Hinduism. He is the Supreme Being in Shaivism, one of the major traditions within Hindu ...
is one. They are indeed different, but they are of the same kind, as there is no duality in Truth.

This translation is based, with minor adaptations, on the critical text edition by Soewito Santoso.

References

{{Indonesia topics National symbols of Indonesia Indonesian culture Kakawin National mottos Javanese culture Buddhism and Hinduism